


May Nothing But Death Do Us Part

by GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fake AH Crew, Fluff, GTA AU, M/M, Minor Character Death, Panic Attacks, Past Relationship(s), Slow Build, serious angst, slow relationship build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-03-09 21:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 38
Words: 67,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3265115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes/pseuds/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin thought that he’d stay happy with Dan forever; they’d live together until they died and have a little family… But secrets spill and he winds up in the palms of Los Santos’ most dangerous gang.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What Was On the Other Side of the Door

**Author's Note:**

> [Title Cred- Uma Thurman by Fall Out Boy] 
> 
> So I came up with this on the bus at like 7:50 in the morning. Now, I’m finally writing it out, and since I’m probably going to make this reaaally long I’m deciding to split it up into chapters. But I hope you enjoy!!!!

For the first 26 years of Gavin Free’s life, he thought it’d be peaceful. He was _convinced_ that he’d grow up, have a good job, meet someone and fall in love, have a couple of kids, raise his kids, then retire happily in some little elderly community in Florida. That would be it, the ‘stereotypical life goal’. But three months after he turned 26, his life goals changed drastically.

The last four years have been spent in Los Santos with his (childhood friend turned sweetheart turned boyfriend turned) fiancé, Dan Gruchy. He spent his days working as a secretary for a big medical company with some weak connections to the gangs of LS, and Dan was a police officer… Or so he _thought_.

But, they lived in a small, one story home in the outskirts of town, the skyline in view, along with the beautiful mountains that separated the city from the country. They had been living there since they got engaged about 10 months before, and Gavin’s stereotypical life goal was coming true, he’d get married in three months, and maybe after that he’d get a dog. Maybe a little corgi that reminded Dan of his neighbor’s dog from when they were children… Or a cat, one that was like the one he left behind in England with his parents.

_But all good things must come to an end, sadly…_

It was August 11th when Gavin Free’s entire life decided to take a turn down a different road.

That morning, Gavin had started the day like he always did. Got up to take a shower while Dan made breakfast, get dressed in jeans and a pale blue button up, put a pound of product in his hair to keep the ‘messy bedhead’, and head downstairs for a quick breakfast before heading off to work.

Simple, just like every other morning in the Gruchy-Free household; Gavin came downstairs, grabbing the toast left out for him and the travel-mug of tea, made just how he liked it. He ate his toast with butter and cinnamon and sugar fast, and kissed his boyfriend on the cheek.

“Love you,” Gavin grinned. “Have a good day! Don’t work too hard.” Typical morning banter.

Dan laughed in response. “Love you too, B.”

Despite ‘B’ being a cheesy nickname from their childhood, they still used it. Just to hold onto the memories from years ago. Gavin beamed though, grabbing his backpack and slipping it over his shoulder before setting off towards the door. When he pulled it open, he paused, turning around a little to call back to his fiancé.  

“I’m gonna be working late today! Go ahead and eat without me!” He yelled, waiting until Dan yelled back an ‘okay’ before leaving. Since he couldn’t drive, he locked the door behind him and set off down the street to the bus station 15 minutes away to take a bus downtown. As he walked, he scrolled his phone, looking up the news for the day.

There was a headline about the gang activity downtown, and how after two and a half weeks of laying low after robbing from Maze Bank in the most dramatic way possible, the Fake AH Crew was back at it. Today’s headline told of how two warehouses in the industrial part of Los Santos went up in flames, and they knew it was Fake AH because of the picture of a green star was left behind in the parking lot of both, and one had the message of _‘DON’T MESS WITH OUR SHIT’_ in what looked like blood.

Gavin sighed, locking his phone and shoving it into his pocket. He was lucky, he’d never been around when gangs attacked despite working in a medical powerhouse company downtown, but that would soon change. He had no idea what would be waiting for him when he got home….

_But he went to work anyway._

 

 

True to his word, Gavin came home late that night; it was a little after 10 when he got to the bus station 15 minutes away from home. Traffic had delayed him badly, he had left the office an hour and a half ago, and a normally 30 minute drive was closer to an hour and twenty. It took him 15 more minutes to get home, which was incredibly annoying.

Gavin walked home exhausted, yawning as he turned onto the street was where his home lay. He didn’t notice the grey van parked across the street, or a man in a leather jacket and skull mask leaning against the driver’s door. He only did what he always did, checked the mailbox, and then walked up the sidewalk to unlock the door to let him in.

Unlocking the door and pushing it open made Gavin feel weird. It was what he always did, but this time, there was no noise or light waiting on the other side. Dan was always playing music, watching something, or was playing videogames when Gavin wasn’t home so the house wasn’t silent.

But it was utter silence and darkness.

“Dan?” Gavin called, dropping his bag on the couch as he stopped in the living room. He leaned over to the side table, flicking on the lamp. The light in the room went away, and Dan wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Continuing on with his search, he thought Dan might be asleep in the living room, or maybe in the shower.

But as he passed the bathroom, his idea of his fiancé being in the bathroom wasn’t true. The door was open and the lights were off.

“Dan?” He called again, his voice starting to shake a little. He really didn’t know now. If Dan had gone out before Gavin got home, he’d leave a note on the door, or texted the Brit. But he hadn’t heard a word from Dan since he left earlier in the day.

“Hello?” His voice was really shaking now as he got closer to his and Dan’s bedroom. The door was cracked open about an inch or two, but it was dark in the room. It was the last place Gavin could think of Dan being, so he slowly opened the door.

What was on the other side was something Gavin would never forget seeing.

The bed was a mess, like it always was, but this time it was something different. The sheets were half pulled off, and in the darkness, Gavin could see dark pools of blood against the light grey sheets. An arm was sprawled across one end of the bed, the rest of the body attached to it was on the ground, and Gavin could see who it was.

_Dan_.

With blood covering his body, pajamas were the only thing Dan had on, and they were caked in blood. Massive cuts covered his bare chest, and there was a hole in his forehead. The man he was in love with was dead, and right in front of him.

That’s when he saw the stranger standing on the other side of the bed, running a bloody hand through messy, slightly curly hair. The stranger looked up when Gavin screamed and thumped when he backed up and hit the wall. The stranger was in front of Gavin in two seconds, clapping a hand over the Brit’s mouth.

“Shut up!” The stranger hissed in a low tone, “god damn.”

With a hand over his mouth, Gavin whimpered with tear filled eyes. He was a few feet away from his dead lover, and the person that killed him was right in front of him. But Gavin locked eyes with the stranger, who had chestnut colored eyes, and was dressed in normal clothes… Despite them being splashed with some blood, and a few bruises stood out against the pale skin of the stranger’s arms.

“I’ll move my hand if you promise not to scream,” the stranger offered. Wanting to get blood covered hands away from him, Gavin nodded furiously. The stranger complied, moving his hands away. When the hand moved, Gavin let out a broken sob.

“Why did you ki-” Gavin was cut off by the stranger.

“There’s a guy in here,” he wasn’t talking to Gavin… so then who was he talking to? The guy outside, across the street, in a skull mask over the earpiece in the stranger’s left ear. “I think he’s the boyfriend that was in Gruchy’s file.”

Gavin was too upset to correct the stranger, who looked back at him when skull mask guy responded.

“Boss orders… Sorry.”

Next thing Gavin knew, a fist was colliding with his face, knocking his head against the wall and knocking the Brit out cold. The stranger chuckled when the Brit crumpled against the wall, and lifted him over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry before leaving, leaving Dan’s bloody, torn, and dead body behind in the bedroom, not grabbing any of the Brit’s things, because Gavin wasn’t going to be coming back there any time soon.


	2. In the Kitchen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin wakes up in the safe house of the most dangerous gang in Los Santos…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So- what do you think so far? Loving it? Fantastic! Here’s some more!! (There’s a lot more dialogue this time around, hope it’s not too confusing/boring)

When Gavin comes to, he’s upright in seconds. It feels like a dream, what just happened. Dan can’t be _dead_ , no way! He looks over at the other side of the bed, expecting to see his fiancé, but it’s empty. His eyes lift, and he looks around the room. It’s not home. There are no pictures on the dresser of their childhood, or the day they got engaged, or when they went to the Pier on the first day of summer and Gavin got his face painted; there’s not the laundry basket in the corner of their dirty clothes; no shag carpet Dan insisted on getting when they moved into the house…

It’s not home.

Instead, it’s a boring room with egg shell white walls, a dark wood dresser directly across from the bed, a door on one end, and a window wall opposite, showing a view of Los Santos and the modern downtown, and nightstands on both sides of the bed with lamps resting on them.

The room is empty, and Gavin panics. He doesn’t know where he is, how he ended up here, or anything about yesterday.

‘It’s a dream…’ He thinks. ‘This isn’t real, Dan’s not _dead_.’

It keeps repeating in his head as his breathing gets sharp and quick. This has happened before, waking up in the middle of the night with terrible dreams plaguing his sleep, but Dan was there to hold him close and scare the dreams away.

He wasn’t there this time.

Gavin brought his legs up, kicking the thin sheets off him as his knees touched his chest, which is growing tight like there’s a boa constrictor wrapped around his chest. He tries to remember all of the breathing techniques he’s been told, to count to three as he inhaled, exhale to the count of three, and then count to three before taking another slow breath. It takes him what feels like hours to get his breathing calm again, and really it’s only minutes.

He’s unaware that he’s being watched, there’s a camera in the corner of the room to watch him, and he’s unaware.

Just as his legs slowly straighten, the door opens slowly. Gavin’s eyes shoot to the door, expecting it to be someone he knows, maybe his mother, or his father, like he’s been brought back to his parent’s home and they’ve heard him screaming in the night.

But it’s a face he doesn’t know. The face looks kind, glasses resting on the stranger’s nose, resting in front of calm brown eyes that remind him of his mother’s, and this face has red hair and an impressive beard.

Gavin doesn’t say a word, only watches as the stranger closes the door behind him and comes over to the bed, sitting gently on the edge, like if he’s anywhere near Gavin, the Brit will break.

“I’m sorry about what happened,” the stranger speaks with a calm, soft voice. He sounds sincere, which strikes something deep in Gavin. “But…” the stranger paused again to sigh and run a hand though his bangs. “Are you hungry?”

The topic changed quickly, but Gavin nodded. He hadn’t eaten in a while, since around noon the day before, and judging by the view, it was mid-day already. The stranger started to get up, walking over towards the door, pausing and looking at Gavin.

“Well come on,” the stranger cracked a smile, it was small, but it was a smile anyway. Gavin scrambled to get out of bed and over to the stranger. “But,” the stranger repeated, opening the door. “I’m Jack.”

Gavin nodded to _Jack_. At least now he had a name to call this stranger. He didn’t say his name back, still a little too shell-shocked to speak. Jack doesn’t say anything on Gavin’s silence, only opening the door and walking out of it, keeping it open for Gavin.

The Brit is slightly shocked when they step into the main area of the home. It’s spacious, with every outer wall covered in ceiling-to-floor windows, and there’s even a stairwell heading up to the doorway, and down into some other part of the apartment. The living room is open, and there’s a massive tv that’s on and playing some new videogame, and the kitchen that connects to it is full of high tech things, that must have cost a fortune.

Gavin hadn’t pieced together everything just yet- he doesn’t realize where he is just yet.

But there’s yelling coming from the humongous couch, where two heads are peeking over the white leather, one head with inky black hair, the other with the same curly hair he had seen the day before; in his ‘ _dream_ ’.

Jack led him through the living room to the connecting kitchen, gesturing for Gavin to sit on a stool that was set in front of the island in the middle of the spacious kitchen. Jack started to cook, something that Gavin had no clue of how to make. The Brit wasn’t worried about what was being made for him; his eyes were trained on the window wall with an excellent view. You could see all the way out to the ocean from there. He imagined that if he looked down at the streets below, the people walking the sidewalks would look like ants.

“Like the view?” A voice was suddenly right next to Gavin, who screeched and jumped a foot in the air, almost falling off the stool. When Gavin looked at who the voice belonged too, he saw a black skull mask, and brilliant, icy blue eyes showing in the eyeholes. He was too afraid to say anything else.

“Ryan,” Jack turned around, eyebrows furrowed. So now Gavin had a name for mystery-skull-mask guy. “Don’t be as asshole.”

Ryanlaughed, shrugging and taking the stool next to one extremely afraid Brit. “What? I’m just having a little fun.”

Jack rolled his eyes at that, turning back around to the stove. “Sure… Are you going to take the mask off?”

“Nah,” that was all Ryan said before he crossed his arms and looked at the doorway. Silence fell in the kitchen, Gavin way too nervous to speak, and Jack obviously didn’t have anything else to say. All that Gavin could hear was the sizzling of whatever Jack was cooking on the stove, and the yells from the living room paired with some loud gunshots.

It was a few minutes before someone else appeared, walking up the wide stairwell from somewhere lower in the flat. This time, this person looked somewhat professional. One excellent handlebar moustache, inky black hair that looked like it hadn’t been brushed in a month, and one incredibly expensive looking tuxedo; this stranger was probably the most professional, ‘boss-looking’ type out of anyone he’s seen today.

“Hey assholes!” This stranger paused behind the couch on his way to the kitchen. “We’re gonna have a nice crew meeting in the kitchen. We’ve got a guest.”

The video games sounds cut short, and the two on the couch grumbled as they got off the couch. They obviously weren’t happy on the thought of having a guest, but the Suit Guy ( _that was his name in Gavin’s head_ ) just rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen, coming up behind Jack and saying something softly to him that Gavin couldn’t hear.

The Brit looked nervously at the five men, the man in the mask next to him, the two in front of the stove, and the two that had come in from the couch. He felt so out of place in here, these five felt extremely powerful, like they could say one word and everything that could go wrong in Gavin’s life could go wrong.

But like the Suit Guy had said, a ‘crew meeting’ was set up, everyone (but Jack) gathered around the island, everyone but said Suit Guy and Jack was sitting in a stool. It was only a minute before Jack appeared, dropping a plate of eggs and toast in front of Gavin.

“Hey!” The curly haired guy protested, frowning and staring at Jack. “Why didn’t I get breakfast?”

“Because you just ate lunch,” Jack responded simply, standing next to Suit Guy. Curly ( _another name from Gavin’s mind_ ) just continued to frown. But Gavin hesitantly started to eat, trying to not crunch when he bit into his toast. He didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself… But that wasn’t working because Ryan ( _Creepy Mask Guy!)_ was staring directly at him, and the guy from the couch with inky black hair ( _Skinny, that was the last nickname from Gavin)_ was staring at him out of the corner of his eyes.

It was extremely quiet now, and Gavin felt so bad because it was probably his fault it was this way. But at least Curly spoke again.

“So why the hell was I told to take him?” Curly’s voice was sharp, full on rude, like Gavin wasn’t a foot away. That’s what made Suit Guy sigh and run a hand through his hair.

“I re-read Gruchy’s file,” he started, and Gavin froze at the name of his fiancé, fork slipping out of his hand and clattering as it hit the plate. “This kid’s his fiancé, his name’s Gavin Free. He saw you, if we let him go, then he’d probably make some big mess with the LSPD.”

Gavin didn’t like a stranger saying his name, but once again, he was too scared to speak. Curly just rolled his eyes at the statement, murmuring, “I could’ve killed him.”

“We don’t kill civilians on purpose,” Ryan cut in, glaring at Curly, who in return, glared back. Suit Guy sighed again like it was him naturally breathing. Both Jack and Skinny were quiet, sharing a nervous look before looking back at Suit Guy.

“Do we tell him?” Jack finally asked, lacing his fingers together and resting them on the cool counter top. Suit Guy’s eyebrows furrowed, honestly thinking about it. There was another minute long silence, Gavin still sitting there frozen with wide, nervous eyes. Finally, Suit Guy decided to speak, not starting with a story, but with a question, aimed directly at Gavin.

“Where did your fiancé work?” He locked eyes with Gavin, and then and there, the Brit realized he would finally speak.

“The police…” His voice was so soft; it shook as the two words came out. But it felt like it echoed in the kitchen, everyone’s eyes on Gavin. Suit Guy came back with another question.

“Do you know where he really worked?”

Gavin shook his head.

“Do you know what a mercenary is?”

Gavin nodded this time, he’s heard the term a few times on the news, about mercenaries being found dead because of which side they fought on in a gang war.

“Well that’s what Gruchy was.”

Gavin’s heart felt like it was being torn in two, but Suit Guy kept speaking.

“Your fiancé has been a mercenary for years. He was giving my gang some trouble and a few others apparently, so Michael here was hired to take him out,” Suit guy glanced at Curly but quickly looked back at Gavin.

Gavin shook his head furiously. “D-Dan wouldn’t lie to me.” His voice was getting louder now, but it was just as shaky. “He’s never lied to me… He can’t be dead… He’s not _dead._ ”

“Look, kid,” Suit Guy bit his lip. “He might’ve looked like a good man, but he’s killed a lot of people. He gave people trouble, and that’s how things work. You give the big guys shit, you get taken out… But he’s really gone.”

Disposed of, in a body bag off a small pier, that’s were Dan has gone.

“But…” Gavin trailed off, not knowing what to say now.

 “I’m sorry you came home when you did, and I’m sorry your fiancé’s dead, but you’re going to have to move on,” Suit Guy’s voice was flat, like he didn’t give a shit.

“Geoff!” Jack hissed. “He’s not _us_. He can’t just get over things like this.”

“That was pretty insensitive,” Ryan murmured, sighing softly as he crossed his arms and leaned his elbows against the counter.

Suit Guy, no wait, _Geoff_ , ran a hand through his hair and pursed his lips. “Well we can’t really do much about it, but I have work to do.” Turning to Skinny, he changed the subject. “Did you get the house cleaned up?”

“Yeah,” Skinny nodded. “Body’s disposed of… Do you want me to go get some of his shit?” The guy glanced at Gavin, who had lost his appetite, and couldn’t eat anymore without probably spitting it back up. Jack’s food was really good… he just couldn’t stomach it anymore; he already felt sick to his stomach.

“Yeah, he’ll be with us for a while… Go grab some of his clothes,” Geoff pushed back from the island, and started to head over to the entry way of the kitchen. “Bring him back to the guest bedroom… We’ll figure out if there’s anything we can do… But until we figure that out, I’ll be in the office.”

With that, Geoff disappeared down the stairs, back from where he came from a few minutes ago.

Gavin felt like crying. He felt like screaming and tearing these people to shreds. He didn’t know what to do, honestly. He thought he’d be with Dan forever, but now he was dead… Everyone started to move, Michael and Skinny going back into the living room. Ryan shared a look with Jack, who sighed and started to clean up Gavin plate.

“I’m… Uh… Sorry,” Ryan’s voice was a little empty, like there was a small part of him that didn’t mean it, but Gavin couldn’t tell exactly what was meant. With a mask on, no one could read the man’s face, making it a little difficult to tell if he meant it or not. But Ryan left a few seconds later, and now it was just Jack and Gavin.

“Well…” Jack set the dish in the sink. “Come on… Let’s get you back to your room…”

The man started to leave, and it took Gavin a few seconds to get himself to move. He was just too upset to care right now. But he walked anyway, following Jack back down the hall, and back into the guest bedroom. It was still mid-day, but Gavin felt like it was much later. He was exhausted now, once again, and it felt like it was late in the evening.

Jack stood in the doorway, watching Gavin lay back down in bed. Turning to leave, he paused, and his lips parted.

“Ray’s going to go get some of your stuff… To make you a little more comfortable...” He trailed off, waiting for Gavin to say anything. But the Brit was still, back towards Jack; but he still heard the man. “I’m sorry you had to walk in on that... You’ll feel better soon…”

Gavin didn’t move, not even an inch.

“Just come out when you feel like it…” Jack expected Gavin to say something, watching the lump in the bed.

“Don’t lock yourself away; it doesn’t help with anything… I learned that the hard way.”

The atmosphere of the room and with Gavin’s back to Jack, he didn’t know that the other man was crying silently, tears streaming down his face.

“Well… Uh… I’ll let you rest… I’ll come get you when we eat dinner…”

The door shut with a soft click, and when Gavin was sure that Jack was gone, he let out a strangled sob, curling up on the bed, not caring about messing up the sheets. He watched the sun set over the mountains he used to see from his house, and cried until there were no more tears left.

When Jack came to tell him dinner was ready, the Brit ignored him, sitting there and keeping his eyes on the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayokayokayokay, so the chapters are gonna be somewhat short, and if that bothers you, I’m sorry… But shorter chapters mean faster updates! So yeah, I’m aiming for weekly updates!


	3. The Contents of the Bag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner was bad, Geoff was distressed, Gavin had ignored Jack, who in turn, was annoyed, Michael was in just a piss-poor mood, Ryan had his mask on and wasn’t eating, and Ray was the only one acting like nothing had gone wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this is a little later than I hoped (by like two days!). I’ve just been a little busy, and despite having a four day weekend, I haven’t been writing, but here the chapter is! Enjoy!

Dinner was bad, Geoff was distressed, Gavin had ignored Jack, who in turn, was annoyed, Michael was in just a piss-poor mood, Ryan had his mask on and wasn’t eating, and Ray was the only one acting like nothing had gone wrong.

The boss had bandages on his knuckles, because he had decided it was an _excellent_ idea to slam his fist into his desk in a fit of anger. At least it was his left hand, not his gun hand.

But, dinner was bad.

Michael stabbed every piece of food on his plate angrily, so roughly it sounded like he was attempting to stab directly through the plate; Geoff picked at his food and maybe a good five bites made it into his mouth; Jack was completely ignoring all of them, still annoyed at Geoff’s heartless comment towards their ‘guest’; Ryan ended up taking his plate into the heist room after sitting in kitchen, where the atmosphere was too thick to be comfortable; and lastly… Ray.

Ray was acting like everything was fine, eating away at his food like he hadn’t eaten all day; eating like he hadn’t thrown Gruchy’s body off a pier by the airport, or cleaned up the house, getting rid of all of the blood, or that _any_ of them where upset.

After a meal of silence, Jack sighed, standing to clear the remnants off his plate in the trashcan before putting it into the dishwasher. Everyone took that as a cue to stand and leave, but Geoff, _obviously_ , thought otherwise.

“Ray, go get Ryan,” he sounded… defeated… despite there being nothing to be defeated about. “Everyone else, sit back down.”

For the second time that day, Geoff called a crew meeting.

Ray came back in a minute later with Ryan in tow, who had his mask on and an empty plate. Putting the plate into the sink for later, Ryan then sat at the empty spot he always sits at.

“Look,” Geoff started, sounded a little bit like himself, which was good. Maybe he wouldn’t get mad this time around… “I know it’s dumb that we’re keeping this kid.”

“It’s a terrible move!” Michael, _of course_ , butted in with a hiss, not caring how loud it was, and that it echoed around the apartment. “You saw him! He’ll just cry all day, he has no benefit to us!”

“That’s enough Michael…” Jack murmured, running a hand over his face, looking exhausted with dark circles under his eyes. Under the semi-bright lights of the kitchen, he looked even more exhausted, like he was about to collapse. The man honestly felt bad for Gavin, knowing _exactly_ what it felt like to see someone you love die right in front of your eyes.

Geoff thought about snapping at Michael, but he realized that wouldn’t go over well, since it appeared that Michael was already on his last straw. But he continued on anyway, running his non-injured hand through his inky black, messy hair. “I’ve done some thinking…”

Everyone gave their boss a confused look, because what the _hell_ could he do now? He ordered to bring in the British guy to their home, their _safehouse_ , keep him in the ‘guest bedroom’ (it was really only a nice room for the people they kidnapped), and then after ordering them to do that- he was an asshole? What next?

“Keep him around,” was all he said, waiting for someone to explode, and _surprise surprise_ ; it was Michael who did it, just like before. The Jersey man slapped his palms on the table as he stood, chair almost tipping over with how fast he shot up.

“What will we do with him? He obviously doesn’t look capable of fucking anything! Did you see him?! He’s some innocent civilian that just so happened to be dating some asshole merc!” His voice still had the same anger in it.

“I see me in him,” Geoff’s voice was surprisingly calm, sounding almost depressed. Everyone went quiet, even Michael, who was still standing. “I see a kid who was in the wrong place at the wrong time… Saw something he wasn’t supposed to and it ruined his life.”

Even Michael was silent. Sure, they all knew how the Great Geoff Lazer Ramsey had gotten into the Los Santos underground, in with the gangs and drug dealers, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but since the man never spoke of it, it shocked them all.

No one wanted to combat that.

“But we’re keeping him around,” Geoff continued on few minutes later, deciding now was a good time to break the silence. Ray, decided to break his whole attitude of ‘nothing’s wrong.

“He’s just a civilian, he’s so… I don’t know, but he didn’t even know his _fiancé_ was a merc,” Ray’s voice was soft, like he was trying his best to not start a war. “If he didn’t know that, and doesn’t look like he’s getting any better, how do you expect him to fit in here?”

Geoff’s turn to explode.

“Well, maybe one day, when this kid feels better, we can train him and shit,” He hissed, doing exactly what Michael did, slamming open palms on the table, shaking the entire thing, and standing up so sharply that his chair clattered to the floor behind him. The sound of the chair, and his hissing echoed around the apartment.

“In my eyes, if we let him go, I have a _strong_ feeling he’s not _gonna continue living_ if we let him go home,” the words were loud in the apartment, echoing back at Geoff like a nightmare. He didn’t realize what he said until a few seconds later, and by then, he was across the apartment, storming over to the stairs.

But instead of going down the stairs, he went up and out, slamming the front door behind him. He left a thick silence behind, with four pairs of eyes on the door. Ray instantly felt bad for setting his boss off, and he started to stand, but Jack reached out, pulling on the Puerto Rican’s arm to keep him from moving away, and before Ray could protest, the man spoke.

“He’s just going to go get hammered, and he’ll black out… I’ll go pick him up when he calls in a few hours…” Jack had been through this before, knowing exactly what to do… Sadly.

_But for once, the Fake AH Crew felt terrible for killing someone._

 

 

Yelling dragged him out his light sleep, the clattering to something hitting the ground made his eyes open, and a door slamming shut made him sit up straight. The dead silence left behind didn’t help…

Gavin sat in the midst of messy sheets, his hazel-green eyes locked on the door, full of fright, hoping that someone would come in and make it go away, wishing someone would enter for once. He didn’t want to leave the room, yet he didn’t want to be alone…

Footsteps were heard in the hall, coming down and stopping in front of the door a few minutes later. The door was pushed open slowly, and he wasn’t expecting Ryan to be on the other side of it, with a plate of food in one hand and a dark blue duffle bag in the other. Gavin was relieved to see someone that looked calm… or at least, body wise.

The mask was still on.

That didn’t help with expressions, all Gavin saw of Ryan’s face was icy blue eyes through the eyeholes of the black skull mask, and that was somewhat creepy. What didn’t help was the dim lighting in the room; the only light filtering in was through the window… and the sun had already disappeared over the mountains in the distance.

But Gavin didn’t say anything, only watching Ryan with hazel-green eyes filled with pure sadness. At first, the man with the skull mask didn’t say a thing, standing in the doorway for a food few minutes, and after what felt like an eternity, he moved into the room, shutting the door being him softly. He wandered over to the bed, setting the plate on the nightstand.

“I… Uh… Brought you something to eat.”

The plate had a medium sized piece of chicken breast, a serving of peas, and some rice. It certainly looked good, which surprised Gavin a little. He didn’t show it, but he was a little surprised that it looked good… He sort of expected Los Santos’ greatest criminals to not care about what they’re eating, with the thought of ‘I have a sort life anyway, fuck it’, but maybe not. But for now, he ignored it, hungry, but not wanting to eat in front of Ryan… So the other wouldn’t know how much he picked at the food.

Ryan just didn’t stand by the bed; he carefully sat on the edge of the bed, closer to the foot of it. He sighed, not really knowing what to do with his hands, so he ran one over the messy sheets like you would if you were running your fingers through your hair. He still had that duffle bag; it was set next to him on the bed. Gavin hoped, _wished_ , it wasn’t what he thought it was.

“Ray stopped by your house,” Ryan’s voice was calm, and comforting, despite the appearance and the mask. But the words to were a set up to another round of tears, if Gavin had any left. “He got some clothes for you, and your phone and laptop… He figured you’d want them…”

The duffle bag was pushed closer to the Brit, who decided it was time to face its contents. Carefully, he pulled back the zipper, and pushed it open more. He was correct; it was the start of another round of tears. Right on top was one of Dan’s shirts, one of the army shirts he got when he was out on tour years ago.

Having no tears left, all he did was let out a broken sob, pushing the sheets off his legs as he shoved his back against the headboard. It was like the bag had caught on fire right before his own eyes.

Hours ago, when Ray had stopped by, he had just shoved clothes in the bag- not trying to figure out if the shirts looked Gavin’s size. The couple had never really had ‘separate’ clothes, they always shoved them together in the closet, and it never really bothered the Brit… but there were just some shirts that smelled like the cologne Dan always wore, knowing Gavin loved it.

The shirt on top really only looked like a normal shirt, given out to someone who had been in the army, but to Gavin, it meant a lot more. The day he picked Dan up from the airport after his final tour was over, the happiness flashing in his eyes as he saw Dan, fully clad in his uniform, standing and waiting for his bag at baggage claim, and oh _god_ that was probably the second best day of his life (the first was obviously when he got engaged).

Ryan had been watching Gavin’s reaction, watching the Brit push back against the headboard and freeze, eyes looking like they were about to spill over a waterfall of tears. The man may have a mask the look of a heartless criminal, but he just couldn’t let the other fall apart to the pieces left behind by his dead fiancé. He moved over to Gavin, curling his arms around the Brit’s shoulders, bringing the other close to him, trying to calm the other down.

To someone who didn’t know the situation, it almost looked like they were a couple cuddling… But it wasn’t like that at all.

Gavin sniffled and let out a stream of quiet, broken sobs, and despite the watery look in his eyes, he had no tears left. Not caring about who Ryan was, a deadly criminal, he only clutched the other’s shirt, burying his neck into the other’s shoulder… It almost, _almost_ felt like he was being held by Dan… And that made his breathing start to calm, and the sobs stopped being so broken.

It took almost an hour, but Gavin’s breathing slowed and calmed, falling asleep in Ryan’s arms. When Ryan figured Gavin was really asleep, he carefully got up from his position, back against the headboard, and settled the Brit in the sheets. He gave one look to the bag, carefully moving it to be resting on the dresser for when Gavin finally decided to look through it.

The moon was high in the sky by now, Ryan looked at it, and the dark sky, the smog of Los Santos blocking out the stars. Maybe soon, they’d make a trip out into the country and he’d be able to see the stars again…

But he looked back at the sleeping Gavin, and quietly, he started to leave the room, letting the Brit sleep his sadness away.

 

 


	4. Getting There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They’re slowly getting there. Slowly, but surely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well… I hope you guys are enjoying it so far! We’re past chapter three… so I’m getting there! (I’m starting to get into this... yay!) btw after the second break, it’s like a backtrack in time to Geoff/Jack while Ryan’s comforting Gavin… Just so no one’s confused.

Gavin had been in and out of sleep for the two days he had been there, and all were full of bad dreams. Except for now. He slept wonderfully through the night thanks to Ryan.

It was sort of odd… Really. The man with the skill mas one of the most dangerous and infamous criminals in all of Los Santos, maybe even the country, with the name ‘Mad King’, so you think that he’d be heartless. But that wasn’t the case, the man held someone he barely knew for a few hours to calm them down so much, they fell asleep.

_Maybe the Mad King really did have a heart._

The sun was rising up over the mountains when Gavin’s eyes slowly cracked open. It took him a few seconds to remember the night before. Carefully, he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and wanting to try and find Ryan to thank him for it. But, the room was empty; the spot where Ryan had been propped up against the headboard was ice cold. He was long gone.

Gavin’s sleepy eyes raked carefully across the room, stopping at the duffle bag resting on the dresser. It took only a second for Gavin to remember what it had done. But he was better now, a good night’s rest had made him less frightened and anxious.

Slowly and carefully, he pushed the sheets off himself. Eyes were set on that blue duffle bag that gave him hell the night before. The floorboards creaked beneath his feet as he slowly tip-toed over to the dresser. The Brit thought about how he was going to do this. He could dig his hands right in, or he could carefully unpack everything, and reminisce the memories of his relationship with a now-dead man.

Deciding the ‘dig right in’ approach, he dug his hands into the bag, searching around for his laptop, phone, and something to wear. He pulled out a random shirt, and _thank god_ , it wasn’t one of Dan’s. Pulling off his own shirt, he then threw on the new one. It took another minute or so of searching before he found some sweat pants he wore on lazy Sunday mornings.

There, now he was in new clothes, and comfortable.

Taking a deep breath, he looked back at the bag, with some shirts and a jacket or two spilling out. He’d created a mess, but it didn’t matter. Grabbing his phone, he shoved it into the pocket of his sweats, and grabbed another jacket just as a wave of shivers went up his back.

Now he just stood still, in front of the dresser and unsure of what to do. He could stay in bed like he’s done for the past 24 hours, or maybe leave the room… But he hadn’t decided on his standing with everyone else in the apartment.

One had killed his husband, another had given him possessions from his dead ( _literally_ ) romance, one had given him breakfast and somewhere to stay, a stranger in the mask had held him until he fell asleep, the other had been bitter and seemingly heartless.

He didn’t know his standings with the strangers.

But, he was now or never, because for once, he was out of bed.

His eyes slowly lifted from the bag and wandered over to the shut door, and taking another deep breath, he shuffled over to it with bare feet, carefully opening the door. It squeaked a little when he opened it, and carefully, he stepped out of the guest bedroom.

_On the third day after Dan’s death, Gavin Free left the guest bedroom._

Geoff was _plastered_. Utterly smashed. Drunk out of his mind. Anything that could describe it, that was what he was.

The tattooed man had too many drinks to remember, beers mixed with whiskey, and some waters so he didn’t throw up ( _because no matter how plastered he was, he was a smart man_ ). There was a whole group of empty glasses that needed to be cleared away when Jack finally got to the bar to pick him up.

In that bar, about three blocks away from home, the tattooed man Jack called his boss sat in the corner of the bar in a booth, nursing yet another drink in his palms. Jack came up to Geoff, sighing and running a hand over his face as he mentally prepared himself for this.

“Put it down,” it was an empty sounding order, but Geoff listened, setting the glass on the table with a small _thunk_ as he looked up. Jack had his palms resting on the table, like he was about to collapse. It didn’t help that Geoff was looking at him with his sleepy blue eyes full of dread, and regret. It looked like the man hadn’t been drowning in alcohol, but dread, regret, and guilt too.

“Come on… Let’s get you home…” he murmured, carefully pulling on the other’s hands, trying to signal that it was time to leave. Geoff only looked up at Jack, like he was going to break into tears, and no matter how many times Jack has fetched him from bars, this was the sadness he’s seen his boss.

You see, there are different types of drunks. Happy drunks who laugh at anything, silly drunks that’ll take any bets and dish them out, the ones who black-out and don’t remember throwing up on their friend, and then there’s the emotional ones.

Geoff didn’t have a ‘type’, it changed with the reason why he was drinking. If he was blowing off steam with the crew, he’d be happy and giggly, or if he’d be drinking at a club on bev night, he’d be silly and stumble over everything. But he if he was drinking to forget, he’d be on the verge of an emotional breakdown, an emotional train wreck.

He was a mess when Jack tried to pull him out of the bar. Too many drinks to count had been put into Geoff’s system, and it was just because he’d tried to forget the memories that would sometimes plague his dreams.

“Please Jack,” the tattooed man slurred, making some grabby motions for Jack’s arm, which was around the other’s waist, like the other was moving it away. “Don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going to leave you,” Jack carefully placed his boss in the passenger seat of the green Jeep he always had, the one all souped up with upgrades like armor and bulletproof tires. Jack had done this so many times, he knew Geoff would break if he was alone.

“Don’t leave me…” Geoff groaned, tears starting to burn in his eyes, the sleepy blue ones that looked red like he’d been crying. This was _bad_. Geoff doesn’t cry. He hasn’t cried in years.

Jack was worried, no…. _scared_.

When a drunken Geoff and an utterly exhausted Jack stumbled into the apartment, Geoff was on the verge of falling asleep. The drunk had fallen asleep in the car, despite it being a ten minute ride, and almost collapsed in the elevator. At least he’d been asleep, so he didn’t throw up in the Jeep that Jack had just repainted and cleaned after their recent heist.

But, when the door swung open, Jack was slightly shocked.

It was dead quiet, and completely dark. No one was in living room, playing video games on the massive tv, or just watching it. No one was in the kitchen making a late night snack. It was like the apartment was empty, no sound or light or anything signaling someone was awake. It was rare to come home like this, but Jack figured it was good, it’d allow Geoff to sleep peacefully and undisturbed.

The drunk was carefully guided down the two flights of stairs to the master bedroom, only stumbling once on the final step.

It was easy to get Geoff into bed, incredibly easy. Jack just had to take the other’s shoes off and the man was collapsing into bed, face first in the messy, unmade sheets and out in seconds. On any other day, Jack would’ve laughed lightly before pulling the blankets over the other.

But he was weighed down by the stress and anxiety of the day, so he only slipped off his own shoes before he crawled into bed, resting beside his fast-asleep boss. Knowing he couldn’t let the other be alone, he just stayed there.

_It took Jack hours to fall asleep._

When Ray wandered into the kitchen sometime around 10 that morning, he was shocked with what he saw. Gavin was sitting there, practically drowning in a hoodie a few sizes too big, with his laptop sitting on the table in front of him, not really knowing what to do. His computer and phone had been wiped clean, all traces of his existence removed, along with the emails and phone numbers of his family and friends. With nothing left but links to websites where his account has been wiped clean, or games, he didn’t know what to do. Even his work email was gone.

But Ray stood there for a minute or so, watching as Gavin sat there, staring blankly at his laptop. It was a good thing that he’d left the guest bedroom, Ryan was starting to get worried ( _which was odd_ ), but the Brit still look a little lost and broken.

When the Puerto Rican’s stomach growled, he finally moved away from the doorway. The creaking of the floorboards is what made Gavin look up from his computer. The Brit looked surprised to see someone else.

“Morning,” Ray mumbled, shuffling over to the fridge, deciding to cook something since he had no idea when Jack would wake, and he was _starving_. Gavin didn’t say anything as Ray shoved two poptarts into the toaster, only watching the other. Ray only bit his lip, wanting to speak, but he just couldn’t find the right thing to say to break the silence.

Licking his lips, Ray leaned against the counter and ran a hand through his hair, trying to fight the need to leave the room to avoid the awkward silence. Luckily, Gavin had caught his words and decided to speak.

“Why is my computer empty?”

Everything had been erased, all pictures, documents, everything. Gavin was confused on why. He understood that they maybe didn’t want to contact anyone, but why would they give him his computer if nothing was on it? Or his phone?

“We had to clean it,” Ray didn’t really know what to say. Well, he _did_ , but he didn’t know how to put it lightly. “For business…”

“What type of business?” Gavin was persistent.

“For your fiancé,” Ray coughed, and thank god his poptarts were done, so he could turn around and put them on a plate and not have to look at the way the Brit’s face fell. It felt bad to watch, just watch how three words could make the Brit look like he was a china doll, and one wrong move could shatter him.

“Oh…” Gavin whispered; his lips not even moving. It was his turn to not know what to say. He only looked at the floor with the same blank look he had with his computer.

Ray wanted to cringe, he wanted to apologize, and he just wanted to reverse what he did. It was so… _odd_. He hasn’t ever felt bad for ruining someone’s life. He’s always shot people and killed them, stole their identity or ruined their job to fire them, he’s been ruining people’s lives to make his money and a title for himself. But he’s never felt bad for it.

He’s never felt bad…

But here he is, feeling terrible for ruining Gavin’s life…

Things were in his favor this morning, because one hungover Geoff Ramsey appeared in the doorway. He looked like the walking embodiment of death. His usual raven black bed-head was even more messy than usual, and he was dressed in loose sweatpants and that was it, no shirt, his tattoos fully showing.  Gavin’s eyes were there instantly, finding something new to stare at and study like his life depended on it.

“How’d drinking go?” Ray chuckled, figuring now was the time to break the silence, and push the awkwardness out of the room.

“Fucking amazing,” Geoff grumbled, dragging his feet across the floorboards on his way towards the fridge.

“The hangover?” Ray questioned with his usual smirk.

“Fucking terrible,” Geoff supplied the perfect answer, causing the Puerto Rican to laugh, and then laugh harder when the tattooed man cringed at his loudness. “Jesus dicks! Shut up!”

Gavin giggled lightly, crossing his arms and resting it on the back of the chair, turning to sit on it backwards.

The awkwardness was gone… and it was almost like any other morning.

Things were _almost_ normal.

_Almost_.

(They were getting there)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUUUUCK I didn’t know how to end this and I wanted to hurry to put up the first chapter [since I’m writing this a few chapters ahead] and idk how to end it… I hope it’s not shitty…)


	5. Almost Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their guest is starting to notice simple things… Maybe Dan’s secret life isn’t the only secret that’s coming into the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m really sorry if this isn’t good. I’m writing this only a few days after Monty passed, and this (well, that week, by the time this is coming out) week has been really killing me and has just been an emotional drag. So this is probably coming out a few weeks after I wrote it… but just, I’m sorry guys if this isn’t good. (I wanted to continue writing, because, ya know… Monty wouldn’t like it if I stopped working.) 
> 
> But that in mind, I hope you guys like it anyway, and yeah… In advance, I’m sorry if the ending to the first part doesn’t make a lot of sense. And this chapter is pretty much filler. I mean pretty much because when you read it, you’ll find out… But I’m just too mentally drained to write something properly. (Still, extremely sorry if this is bad… I feel like it’s word vomit n~n)

The morning felt like every other day, where Geoff was nursing a hangover, Ray was eating poptarts for breakfast, Michael was sleeping the morning away, Jack was doing the laundry or some other chore to keep the apartment clean, and Ryan was nowhere to be seen. They all moved together like a well-oiled machine, both in and out of heists.

But putting in a new piece can cause some issues. Gavin was a new piece, and he didn’t fit anywhere.

He still sat at the kitchen table, completely unsure of what to do with himself. This was the first time he’d been outside of his little room and _really_ interacted with the most dangerous criminals in the country.

But it was odd to him. They acted so… _domestic_. Like they weren’t five star criminals that have robbed countless high security banks blind, or that they’ve probably wiped out most of the LSPD in one foul swoop. They acted just like a normal family, like they loved each other.

But wait- that was something else Gavin had noticed too in his little hour or so of ‘people watching’ ( _it was more like ‘criminal watching’)._

They loved each other, and more than ‘friends’. It was subtle, like they were trying to hide it. But there was still little touches that were held too long to be friends, glances and looks shared with love in their eyes, practically on top of each other while sitting on the couch, and a few other simple things that were too… _different_ to be considered ‘friends’.

They were _way_ to close to not be considered lovers.

And that’s what made it strange to Gavin. Such powerful and strong criminals, in a polyamorous relationship; they shouldn’t be worried though, Gavin wasn’t disgusted by it. Just maybe… _intrigued_. After a life of days that didn’t ever really change, this was a spark that would start a fire. That spark was being kidnapped, then watching as five dangerous criminals interacted with each other, all appearing to be boyfriends. He watched that spark, and sure, he wasn’t even sure if they were dating each other,

_but it watched the spark, simply intrigued with it, and as it lit up the dull days that was his life._

 

The afternoon was pretty ‘normal’ too. Ray and Michael quickly took up the couch for a few hours of video games, Ryan and Jack had went off somewhere in the city to deal with some criminal stranger for a job while Geoff was napping, sleeping off the hangover, because it didn’t matter that he had brought the hangover on himself, Geoff was going to complain.

By then, Gavin had left the kitchen and ended up pretty much perched on the opposite end of the couch, as far away as he could get from Michael and Ray without leaving the couch. Luckily, the couch had some length to it, so it was easy to do. Even easier when Ray was draped across Michael’s lap, taking up less couch space.

The Brit still didn’t know what to do. His laptop had been cleared, so he couldn’t distract himself with scrolling facebook to see all of the useless crap his work ‘friends’ and his family were up to, or something else like that. His phone was the same way, wiped clean, all apps gone and it was strange… It was like the ‘call’ app was gone too. So he couldn’t even _call_ anybody.

The Fake AH Crew _really_ didn’t want him to contact anyone, then.

With nothing to do, he only sat there, every once and awhile glancing at the massive TV screen displaying some video game Gavin didn’t particularly care for. But most of the time, his eyes were on the window wall he had noticed the day he arrived and ate breakfast in the kitchen before spending two straight days in bed.

The view was great though, it was something he’s never really seen. The only chance he’s had at such a view was from the skyscrapers that made up the Los Santos skyline that he visited every-so-often for work, but when he did that, he was too busy working to stop and enjoy the view. Now, he felt like he had all the time in the work. With zero capability of holding a gun, or any combat training, he was pretty much useless for the Fake AH Crew, so he could just lounge around until they decided it was time he left…

Maybe he’d get the chance to leave in a month… After Dan’s drama and the wake it left behind died down.

Not that Gavin knew the repercussions of ‘ _disposing’_ Dan, and how they was, were, and will be, affecting the five criminals he was living with. Yeah… he had no idea about _why_ Jack and Ryan where gone. He had just come out of the kitchen when he saw the two discussing in front of the front door before disappearing through it.

_He only sat there, with his eyes on the window wall, not really sure of what to do._

Geoff’s nap was interrupted by the loud ringtone of his phone, the loud ‘ _ain’t nobody fuckin’ with my cliché’_. Of _course_ , he forgot to put that shit on silent before he crashed into a get-rid-of-hangover nap. With the curtains drawn, the room was dark, but his phone was lighting it up and the boss wasn’t happy. Groaning, he rolled over and crudely slapped his nightstand, trying to find his phone. It took a few seconds to find it, hit accept, and press it up against his ear.

He knew it had to be Jack or Ryan, the ‘ _ain’t nobody fuckin’ with my_ cliché’ ringtone had been set for everyone in their crew, and if Ray or Michael or someone else that didn’t live in the house wanted to talk to him, they would wait until he had come out of his hangover to speak to him.

So since it was Ryan or Jack, he knew it had to be something important.

“What?” Geoff hissed, resting his free hand over his eyes. He was already annoyed, and he had only just said hello.

“Burnie found out,” Jack didn’t even say hello back; he just went on with the news.

“Burnie from Cockbite?” Geoff sighed, already knowing where this is going to go.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded, despite knowing Geoff couldn’t see him. That one word only made his boss groan. Which was odd- it wasn’t like Geoff knew two or more Burnies. He only knew Burnie Burns of the Cockbite, a crew that the Fake AH Crew was on equal grounds with. Cockbite was more widespread, and sort of ruled other parts of the country, mainly settled in Austin, Texas. So while the Fake AH Crew ruled over Los Santos, Cockbite ruled over other cities, but they both worked together some times, but mainly watched from afar.

All of the other times they’ve been on equal grounds. This was different.

“What did he find out?” Geoff already knew the answer, but it didn’t hurt to ask.

“He found out about Gruchy,” Jack’s tone was flat… like he was trying to hide something.

Oh _man,_ this was going to be great.

_Burnie had found out about Geoff- and him killing Cockbite’s best merc, Dan Gruchy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is probably somewhat bad- but oh well. I wanted to put in some sort of plot…. And I was just winging it since I was too busy to plot this chapter out properly. But I’m sorry about the shortness of this one. This week (or really, the first week of February, by the time this is coming out for public eye) has just been a big drag and I’m just drained. But I hope you liked it anyway!


	6. Pinning the Blame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone’s pinning the blame on someone, and that someone’s Geoff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… I’ve finally figured out the plot for this- I’m not winging it anymore, I swear. I have the sort of basic(ish) plot written, so I have something to go by… But how do you guys like it so far? Cause I’m in love with this story!

Burnie Burns had found out. He could be a dangerous man when angry; Geoff had been the witness of it… But it had never been directed at _him_.

Geoff was upright in seconds, eyes completely open, wide, and alert, suddenly feeling like he hasn’t slept in hours. “He _what_?” He repeated, like the news hadn’t sunken in, but it had, he just didn’t know what to do.

“He _knows_ Geoff,” Jack voice was rushed, like he was running… and maybe he was. But he couldn’t tell over the phone. “He’s mad, no _furious_. He says he’s going to kill you. I don’t know if that’s his rage speaking or not, but he’s furious.”

Geoff felt sober all of the sudden. No lingering drunk-feelings, no hangover, completely and utterly sober; like he hadn’t ever touched a drop of alcohol in his life. He didn’t know why it was so surprising o him. Burnie had found out that he was behind Gruchy’s death, but Geoff had done everything in his power to cover his tracks. But this also brought up a thought, something he _completely_ forgot.

He had forgotten who Dan Gruchy was, and who he worked for.

When he took the job, all it had was basic information, like his job, name, age, a picture of him, and his address… and a price tag; nothing on who he worked for… and that’s why Geoff took it. The price tag had been high, and since it _looked_ like he worked alone, it sounded good… But if he had known that Gruchy worked for Cockbite, he would’ve never taken the job, and then passed it off to Michael.

The entire time of discussing the job with Michael, he had felt like he had been forgetting something… and now that he remembered, his guilt doubled, maybe even tripled.

“Jack…” Geoff trailed off, and Jack knew what he was going to say. “I’ve made a mistake…”

“I know,” the other’s voice was bitter and sharp. “You’ve made a mistake and it’s obvious.”

Geoff cringed, running a hand over his face and then up through his hair.

“You forgot who Gruchy worked for didn’t you?”

“Yeah…” Geoff nodded. “I forgot who he worked for- a-and if I knew I wouldn’t have taken it…”

“I know…” Jack’s tone kept changing, now it was sad and flat, drawn out with a soft sigh.

It was silent for a minute, only Jack’s soft breathing on the other line. Geoff felt guilt stab him in the heart, making it worse. He still had the curtains drawn, and the door closed, so he sat in the dim lighting of his room… and it didn’t help.

The thought of having to tell everyone else what he’s done rose in his mind, and all he could think about what Gavin’s reaction… He had already done so much to the kid in the past three days…

But the thought was pushed out of his mind when Jack spoke again.

“God _dammit_ ,” He cursed, sounding like he was trying to contain himself, because he really was. The bearded man _never_ got mad, or at least, visibly. He didn’t want anger to cloud his judgment, since he’d have to make life saving decisions in mere days, maybe even hours.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Geoff wasn’t one to apologize with all of his heart, but now was a time for change. “All that was told of me was some basic shit; I didn’t know where he worked…” He was genuinely upset, and worried; for his life… for his crew’s… for everyone at stake here. His guilt for Gavin doubled, but worry quadrupled.

_His regret was the strongest feeling he felt._

 

Saying that Ryan was pissed was an understatement. He was enraged, that was possibly the closed word to describe his anger. There could be no word in the dictionary to describe his anger.

Truly angry Ryan was a force to be reckoned with.

Sitting in the car next to Jack was bad. The bearded man knew exactly how angry Ryan could get, but this was just bad. This was the worst he’s ever seen the other man. But he remained calm and collected on the outside, deciding to be the calm one, the ‘voice of reason’ in this situation. Sure, he’d probably get somewhat upset and angered when he got to the apartment, but for now, he pushed the anger in his mind away, letting Ryan be the angry one.

He hoped, _wished_ , that Ryan wouldn’t take it out on Geoff… He _wished_. But it was unlikely, probably the least he would do is start a yelling match and maybe throw a punch or two… hopefully at a wall and not the boss. But it was unlikely that he would do nothing.

“Don’t take it out on Geoff,” Jack’s voice was barely above a whisper, calm and quiet; hopefully not setting off the ticking time bomb that was Ryan Haywood.

“But he didn’t _know!_ He should know this shit!” Of course, Ryan would start an argument.

_(This would be the first of many_ )

“Exactly,” Jack spoke in a quiet, defending tone. “He didn’t know. You can’t pin it against him when he didn’t know.”

“But he’s the _boss_ ,” Ryan jabbed back, not wanting to drop it until they had a ‘crew meeting’ back in the apartment. “He sh-”

“Not everyone knows everything Ryan,” Jack cut the other off in a ‘take no shit’ tone. Finally, Ryan must’ve got the idea and tone, because he didn’t say anything back, only ‘ _subtly_ ’ turning away from Jack to look out the window.

Jack only sighed, coming to a stop at a stoplight. He had called Geoff when they were leaving the building, going to an abandoned warehouse to meet with the Cockbites and exchange a few things, like some drugs from the lower ranks of their crew for a few contacts to add weapons to their collection. It was something minor, not that big of a deal, but it turned into more when Burnie pulled up outside suddenly and stormed in, accusing Jack and Ryan of what happened to Gruchy.

Jack had done what he could; telling Burnie that it wasn’t them, the man was mistaken, and thanked them for the contacts before running off. Ryan wasn’t happy by the time Burnie had stormed in, and just grew angrier, and it didn’t help that when they shut the warehouse door a bullet was shot through the door, right next to Ryan’s head.

Now, they were only a block or two from the apartment, the skyscraper in view. It would be bad when they got home, no doubt. It would start a screaming match, and they still had Gavin with them… He would have to be calmed down from the yelling; almost as if he was a scared bunny, he would jump at the simplest sounds.

Ryan had told him on the drive to the warehouse a few hours ago that the Brit looked terrified when he came in to drop the bag off, and how he spent a few hours holding him close.

They pulled into the garage a few minutes later, and it took Ryan a minute to gather himself up and get out, heading over to the elevator without a second thought. Jack only sighed, running a hand over his face before getting out, joining the other.

It was tense ride up to the top floor, to their apartment. Ryan was staring at the closed doors, and if looks could kill, he would be melting the metal doors ( _having his mask on didn’t help_ ). Jack only stood in the corner, hands just by his side, not behind his back, not curled into fists, just… dangling. When the doors slid open, Ryan stalked off, and sharply, he went right down one stairwell and then down the other, probably to fetch Geoff from the master bedroom so he could yell at him.

Jack took a different route, going to the down to the living room to talk to Michael and Ray, who he could already hear from the doorway. When he got to the couch, he noticed Gavin sitting on the very opposite end, and it surprised him, but he didn’t show it one bit. It was good that the Brit was out of his room, it meant small progress.

Yelling from the master bedroom broke the few seconds of peace and normality Jack felt. Michael and Ray seemed to get this was something bad, the sounds of video games cut out, the game paused. Gavin looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and it had only just begun.

It only took two seconds for Ryan to be stalking back up the stairs, his mask in his hand with Geoff trailing after him, dressed in only grey, baggy sweatpants.

“Look, Ryan I know your mad, but it’s not my fault!” Geoff called after the other, standing at the top of the stairs while Ryan stood a few feet away, back to his boss. “I mean, yeah I’d be pissed too, but it’s not _my_ fault!”

“Yes it is your fault!” Ryan whirled around, his tone just as loud, if not louder. Jack took a worried look at their British guest, who looked like he was two seconds away from running off. For once, Jack hoped he would run off to his room so he didn’t have to see it… He would definitely hear it from where ever he went into the apartment, but it was better to be out of the room.

Michael and Ray shared an odd look, not knowing Geoff’s mistake. But they didn’t say anything, deciding it would be best to sit this one out _(they still watched though_ ).

“Go look at the info I fucking got! It says _nowhere_ who Gruchy worked for. You _can’t blame me for this!_ ”

Michael and Ray knew instantly, sharing another worried look. This time, they both glanced at Gavin, watching as he looked like he was about to melt into the couch, _and_ run off at the same time.

The yelling sort of muffled out while Michael and Ray shared a silent conversation, trying to figure out what to do. Like Geoff, they had both remembered who Gruchy worked for way too late, and now they were in big trouble.

“Okay, fine,” Geoff hissed. “If you’re so _fucking_ upset, then I’ll try and talk to him, see what he wants and I’ll do my best to fix it so we all don’t fucking _die_.”

“Geoff…” Jack warned, but Geoff completely ignored him.

“Would that make you not a dickhead Ryan?” Geoff crossed his arms over his bare chest, standing his ground.

Ryan growled, looking like he was going to tear something, or _someone_ to shreds. “He’s going to kill you first if you do that! There’s nothing you can do to fix this now. You’ve ruined _everything_.”

In return, their boss threw his hands up, yelling out a ‘god damn!’. Everyone shared a look, even a terrified Gavin. Their boss by the stairs grumbled something along the lines of ‘ _can’t fucking make you happy_ ’. That was the final straw for Ryan, and he just growled, or really _snarled_ before storming up the stairs.

The door slammed behind him loudly, and Geoff looked just like Ryan.

Figuring the fight was over; Jack carefully made his way over to Gavin. “Come on…” His words were calm, holding out a hand for Gavin to take. The Brit only glanced at him, eyes full of fright. He looked like a wet leaf, a shaking mess.

It took a minute, but he took Jack’s hand, and let the man kindly lead him back to the guest bedroom. The pair disappeared down the hallway, and both Michael and Ray’s eyes went from Jack’s back over to Geoff.

For once, they decided it was best to not get involved, and they didn’t say a thing, only turning their backs to Geoff, letting the other stew in his anger alone.

 

 


	7. Aren't You Mad At Me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you mad at me?”  
> “No Geoff.”  
> “Why? Ryan’s pissed.”  
> “Well I’m not exactly fuckin’ pleased…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY, SO I’M SORRY THIS CAME OUT ON TUESDAY AND NOT SATURDAY! I WAS AN IDIOT AND I WAS OUT OF TOWN FOR THE WEEKEND WITHOUT MY NOTEBOOK SO I COULDN’T WRITE THE CHAPTER, AND I CAME BACK YESTERDAY, BUT I WAS SOOO BUSY I COULDN’T FIND TIME TO WRITE ANYTHING! LIKE I WROTE SOME, BUT I WAS JUST TOO TIRED TO FINISH! SO I’M SORRY BUT HERE TAKE THIS!
> 
> (An apology in advance, I’m sorry that this chapter skips around a lot, this is just how my thought process has been going this week.)

Everyone was fighting. Well, almost everyone.

Michael and Ray decided to not get deeply involved, and made the decision to stick in the neutral ground, Jack has taken Ryan’s side in his mind, but stayed neutral in his actions, and Ryan and Geoff were bickering like children. Sadly, all of the yelling had pushed Gavin back into the guest room, effectively reversing the semi-good mood the Brit appeared to be in.

It pushed the Brit back to square one, in tears and too full of fear to leave his room. Then again, they had only barely made it to square three, but it was still a difference.

_Just one fight came to a resolution, another one opened._

Just like before, the house was near silent and tense. The TV was off, along with nearly every light. You could hear Geoff yelling into his phone down in the heist room down the hall, and the barely there quiet murmurs of Michael and Ray in the kitchen.

Hours had passed, and now it was nearing the middle of the night, hours after Ryan had stormed out and disappeared; hours since Jack lead Gavin back into the guest bedroom and let the Brit sit in there alone.

But after hours of hearing Geoff’s angry yells at whoever was on the other side of his phone, and sitting in the tense atmosphere of the apartment, Michael and Ray still sat in the middle ground. They were smart, figuring it was best to stay out of the way and let this fizzle out and then they could help Jack pick up the pieces.

“We just got him out of his room…” Michael spoke softly, not needing to mention who he was talking about, Ray knew.

Despite Michael hating that he had to take the Brit home with him, and then having to keep him in the apartment, he had sort of grew a heart after Geoff’s mini-rant about how if they let the Brit go, he would end up the same way as he fiancé.

“How long do you think it’ll take him to come out again?” Ray whispered back after a minute of silence, his cheek resting on his palm as he slumped while sitting on a stool in the kitchen.

“Hopefully it’s not long,” Michael replied flatly and tiredly, letting silence fall between them.

No one was happy now, the somewhat good state they were all in earlier was reversed, and for Gavin, it was like a reversal and ten steps backwards as he hid away in his room ( _unfortunately, the guest bedroom was next to the heist room, he’d have to hear the yells)._ No one was happy.

“Where’s Ryan?” It was another ten minutes before Ray whispered out a question. His words barely cut through the tense silence, and for a minute he was worried Michael didn’t hear him. But he did, the other responded a minute later.

“Still out. Wouldn’t surprise me if he went on a murder spree,” Michael attempted at a joke, but just like everything else, it fell flat. Ray didn’t even smile at the comment, let along laugh.

They were in the middle ground of a battle field, trying to hide themselves and not get involved, and maybe it was just as bad as being on either side.

_Maybe it was worse._

Geoff slammed his phone down, the corner of the shitty, disposable phone cracking badly. Talking to contacts was pretty annoying in the first place; talking to them while angry was worse, and the absolute worst part was trying to talk to them while angered, and try and pull them to your side, and they all deny because you’d pissed of the _Burnie Burns_.

When you piss off the second best powerhouse crew in the business _(of course Geoff was first, no shit_ ), no one would choose to stick with you. They’d run for the hills to save their own asses, and despite a possible spectacular pay, they’d do it anyway. These contacts that Geoff had were supposed to be there and help him out, but since the situation was so harsh, they would run off like children to protect themselves and their lives.

But he slammed the phone down, not exactly the most thrilled man. Grumbling, he began to pace in front of – _yet another-_ window wall, running his hands through his hair and over his face. He was trying to keep a clear head, or a semi-clear head, just to keep the anger from clouding his judgment. He didn’t want to make another terrible decision.

He had already made so many, he didn’t want to make more.

He paused in his pacing, letting his hands fall to his sides. Turning towards the window wall, he stepped closer to it, eyes glancing at the view of the tall building, the sea off in the distance, and the mountains off in the other direction. Breathing deeply, he thought about all of the contacts he’s called, all of the snipers, mercs, supply men, and minor crews, and thought long and hard.

Many ran for the hills, saying they were going out of town and they had business and couldn’t get involved, and then the rest said the same thing.

‘ _We’ve already picked a side Ramsey, and it’s not yours.’_

His contacts had sided with Burnie, pretty much betraying him. As he stood there, he thought long and hard, thinking about what route he was going to take. He could kill them off now, and make it just a battle between him and Burnie, or he’d let them go until the contacts that left gave him shit. Whatever decision he made, it could affect them all greatly.

One more wrong move and he could regret everything.

Shifting, he ran another hand through his hair, letting out a soft sigh. Some days were more stressful than others, planning heists brought in large amounts of stress, and running normal jobs barely brought any, but this was the most stressful thing this job has ever given him. Sure, almost losing Ray was terrible, but that time it was just chance that something like that could happen.

This situation was all on him.

Geoff had brought all of this on him and the rest of the guys. He’d made the decision to take the job, and he was going to make more decisions to keep them alive.

This was far more stressful.

In the middle of his hour long stare out the window, there was a knock on the door, interrupting him. Setting a hand on the table, he turned, watching as the door peeked open. Michael stood there, arms crossed over his chest like an unhappy mother.

“Come on boss,” he spoke softly, but the words drifted across the room anyway. “You’re gonna be up ‘till sunrise.”

Geoff didn’t respond, only watching as Michael sighed and dropped his arms, stepping into the room and pushing the door closed until it was only barely cracked open.

“You have to sleep,” Michael’s voice was kinder now, more sincere.

“I’m fine,” Geoff found his words… and a strict tone too. He could see Michael pause for less than a second.

“You’re not going to be ‘ _fine_ ’,” the Jersey man sounded more flat

“Yeah I am,” of course Geoff had to defend himself.

Michael sighed, rolling his eyes, carefully sliding his hand over Geoff’s, which hadn’t moved from its spot on the desk. A small, gentle and caring squeeze, something that made Geoff melt a little, from Michael; it made the tattooed man blink slowly, and let out a long breath.

“Come on, let’s get some sleep and we’ll make our game plan tomorrow,” Michael’s soft voice was persuasive. Geoff nodded a little, letting Michael pick his hand up off the table and curl his fingers around his. Michael smiled weakly, tugging lightly; a silent signal to get a move on.

They left the heist room, shutting the door behind Geoff, and headed down the hall, into the dark living room and down into the master bedroom.

Instead of Jack lying beside Geoff, it was Michael tonight, the bearded man too angered to share a bed with the boss.

When they had stripped down to boxers and settled in the messy sheets, Geoff easily took Michael into his arms. He let his eyes shut, getting comfortable. Michael did the same, lazily sliding his arm around the other’s waist, pretty much nuzzling his face into Geoff’s neck. Letting out a small hum, he also let his eyes fall shut. He was almost asleep when Geoff whispered softly.

“Are you mad at me?”

“No Geoff.”

“Why? Ryan’s pissed.”

“Well I’m not exactly fuckin’ pleased…”

There was a silence while Michael found his words.

“I just…”

Instead of finding his words, Michael tilted his head upwards, looking at Geoff with a half-asleep daze, and the other seemed to get it.

_And their lips connected softly._

Gavin had been sitting in his room for a while, not really doing anything… just… thinking.

He sat in front of the window wall of his room, once again, watching the mountains in the distance. From this view, he wished he could see the stars, but the smog blocked out their light. He heard the yells coming from the next room over stop about 30 minutes ago and since then, the apartment had been silent. Like no one lived in it.

Being used to always having some background noise in his home, it wasn’t helping his ‘calm down and rest’ thing Jack had told him to do. Slowly, he lifted a hand from the resting place in his lap, and set his open palm against the cool glass.

No matter how fancy this apartment was, he wished he was home. Back in his little two story home that truly felt like home; where _Dan_ was alive and well. But from what he was told, he might as well make himself at home. The thought made his stomach knot a little.

Blinking slowly, the Brit looked down at the street below him, where people were alive and well too, walking to clubs with their friends, or stumbling home drunk, and taxis covered the streets, shuttling people to and fro, to home or to downtown.

Gavin had never been one for going clubbing, he would go to bars sometimes with friends from work, or just with Dan when they felt like it, but he thought about it. Sure, he’d probably never leave the apartment again or at least for a long time, but he thought about going out to party and pretend to be someone else for the night.

In his grieving mind, he thought that acting like someone else would make him feel like his old self again.

He heard the footsteps in the hall, and despite their softness, felt like thunder in the silent apartment. His eyes moved away from the window, and to the door behind him. But the door didn’t open; it remained shut as the footsteps went out off into the living room and down to the master bedroom, where they disappeared.

Blinking slowly once again, Gavin carefully moved his hand away from the window, slowly getting up off the floor. Still in sweat pants and a t-shirt, he carefully laid in bed, drawing the sheets up around him, almost like a bird’s nest.

Letting his eyes shut, he curled up, whimpering softly with just how big the bed felt around him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooooow I’m not sorry at all if this sounded a little angst-y at the end. That was the purpose. But you could see some more relationship stuff! I’m gonna get there one day, I swear!


	8. Who the Enemy Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan runs off, and it’s time to learn who the enemy really is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a change of perspective… oooooh boy there’s some change c:

Ryan felt like killing someone; specifically, Geoff, or Burnie. He stormed out of the apartment, fuming. If the world was a cartoon, steam would be pouring out of his ears like a whistling tea pot. Down to the garage to take a car, and drive off to fume, stew in anger, and sulk alone Ryan went.

He got to the highway, driving a flashy sports car way over the speed limit, when his phone started to ring. The thought of answering didn’t even pass his mind, Ryan kept his eyes on the road and his knuckles clenching the wheel so hard they were white. He only let it ring as he pulled off the highway, not even slowing down as he took a turn and zoomed down an unpaved road, not caring that he could possibly crash as he sped off into the desert.

The phone sitting on the dashboard buzzed, signaling he had a voice mail. It would go unanswered.

It took some time to get to a warehouse that looked abandoned on the outside, but was set up as the Fake AH Crew’s target practice. It was the best way to blow of some steam, and get rid of anger without going on a murder spree.

The building looked like it was falling apart on the outside; the metal siding was rust covered, and the roof look like it was about to cave in, but that was just a cover so no one would enter or suspect something was inside. But on the inside, it was sound proofed, and brightly lit with hard concrete floors and nearly perfect metal walls. It looked like it was only built a week ago, and was set up as a shooting gallery and ordinance storage, even with a loft set up as a safehouse if things ever went to shit.

Ryan figured Jack would know that Ryan came here, it was sort of the go-to place to let off steam for the crew; but if Jack was _smart_ enough, then the bearded man wouldn’t disturb Ryan.

Ryan stormed inside the warehouse, letting the car door slam shut behind him. The phone was left ringing on the dashboard. But he had anger running through his veins, and it showed as he shot at the targets set up with his jaw clenched, shoulders hard as rocks, and his knuckles white from his death-grip.

He was there for hours; just shooting a variety of handguns. Hours and _hours_.

As his steam finally blew out and dissipated, Ryan had a somewhat clear mind. Sure, he was still fairly angry, but he could properly think without the rage clouding his judgment. Leaving the warehouse, he crossed the little gravel clearing in front of the building where they parked whatever vehicle they used to get there.

When he got in the sports car he chose, his phone was still buzzing. One look at his phone and he could see that during the hours he spent in there, his phone had only been silent for a few minutes. Dozens of texts, missed calls, and voicemails left unanswered, and they would stay unanswered.

The blond ignored all of them as he started the car, pulling out of the little gravel clearing. He had spent the afternoon, and a few hours into the night in the warehouse, but it didn’t bother him.

He only drove down the unpaved path back out of the desert, only a few miles above the speed limit this time.

_Instead of heading back to the apartment, he only drove farther north._

Just like the dramatic spy movies with supervillains, the supervillain would storm down the dimly lit, empty halls of their lair, shoes clicking and echoing as they were pissed, their plans starting to come out to the ‘hero’ of the movie, and _loads_ of dramatic angles.

If you watched the surveillance monitors from the security room, you’d see what looked like unedited film from the recording of that dramatic scene.

And if this ‘supervillian’ decided to fill those shoes left by the ‘stereotypical’ spy movie, then this _villain_ filled the shoes perfectly, like they were made for him.

Now, you gotta be wondering, who _is_ this guy?

_Well, it’s Burnie Burns, Geoff Ramsey’s now-arch nemesis._

Burnie was practically _stomping_ down the halls of the large building he called Cockbite Headquarters, or to the public eye, it was Rooster Teeth, a very widespread tech company.

After hours, the place was a criminal madhouse, all sorts of laws being broken in there. Burnie ruled it all, well until Geoff had come along a few years back and they decided to ally. Burnie figured they’d be good friends until something happened and they’d split, and the alliance wouldn’t last forever. He was correct, sadly.

But he stormed down the hallways, absolutely fuming. He wasn’t pleased one bit about losing Gruchy, and it didn’t help that the man’s death had been at the hands of Fake AH, it only made it worse.

Storming into the man conference room, Burnie had Miles at his side instantly.

“Oh hey Burnie…” Miles spoke carefully, like one wrong thing and Burnie would explode. Like a ticking time bomb. “What’s up?” A shy smile was attached to it.

Burnie brushed the man off, storming to the head of the table, where pretty much everyone higher up in the crew sat. Gus, Matt, Joel, Barbara, even Adam sat there; the only two missing from the table where Blaine and Arryn.

Miles ran a hand over the back of his neck, looking sheepish as he wandered back over to an empty chair next to Barb.

It was obvious that this meeting wasn’t going to end well.

Everyone had varying shades of negative emotions.

Gus was looking somewhat calm, but there were bags under his eyes, and Joel looked messier than usual, and Matt looked just plain tired, and Barb was working away on her laptop, looking extremely frustrated. Adam sat there with his arms crossed, staring at the wall, and looking like he was trying to figure out something in his head.

Burnie decided the perfect way to start off the meeting was to stand at the head of the table and slam his palms against the polished wood of the desk, not even bothering to sit.

“I think you all know what happened,” he hissed. Everyone nodded slowly, Barbara slowly shutting her laptop and pushing it forward a little.

“And you _all_ know that I’m not pleased.”

There were more nods.

“Ramsey and I made that alliance years ago. He _agreed_ that we would never kill any of each other’s men,” Burnie continued, and everyone knew where this was going. Miles wanted to protest, saying that it could’ve been an accident. Barbara looked at her computer, looking through all of Gruchy’s files, and his online footprint. There was nothing on him on the surface about him being a mercenary, only pictures and facebook posts about himself and his fiancé and lies posted about the Brit’s job as a police officer.

Looking at Dan happy with Gavin was painful. It didn’t help when she found the photo of the day the two got engaged.

She only wished Gavin was okay; Dan had talked about him often, and they were so in love and happy… All she wanted right now was for Gavin to be happy, even if she had never met the other Brit.

“He broke that a few days ago,” Burnie paused, licking his lips and sliding his palms back against the polished wood, lifting them and turning sharply, starting to pace. “We _agreed_ that if that was broken, our alliance would be over.”

Gus and Matt shared a look. The night before, the two, including Burnie, had discussed this thoroughly for hours. Burnie had come to a decision, and Gus and Matt barely agreed. They only did it because Burns was their boss. It was either they agreed with him, or Burnie would do something drastic.

“Our alliance is over, and that means we could pick any direction to go in without having to worry about breaking it.”

Joel looked like he was about to speak, lips parting, but it was a few seconds before he shut it again. Shaking his head, the man ran a hand through his inky black, bed-head hair, eyes now trained on the dark, polished wood table.

“We’re going to rip Ramsey to shreds.”

The line sparked some protest.

Barb looked up with wide eyes, letting out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a cry of shock. Miles slammed a hand on the desk. Gus and Matt cringed. Joel actually started to speak, saying ‘ _you can’t just_ do _that’._ Adam cursed loudly.

Burnie only paused in his pacing, going back to his original position, with his palms spread flat on the table as he stood. It looked like he was prepared for this, not yelling and losing his temper just yet.

The protests died down after a minute, and Barbara was the first to speak.

“Burnie, we need to find his fiancé,” she spoke, all eyes coming to her. Nervously, her eyes looked up from the desk, going to each and every person in the room. “All of Free’s files, and anything online have disappeared, it looks like someone’s purposefully cleared them away… I think Ramsey took him.”

She paused for a minute, looking like a fish out of water, opening her mouth and closing it a few times before finding her words again.

“We should be worried about Free… Anything could be happening to him.”

No one appeared to have any input. Even Burnie had nothing to say, he only watched the blonde as she nervously bit her lip. Nothing else was said on that topic.

“Adam, Miles,” Burnie’s eyes went between the two. “Low on anything?”

The two shook their heads. They were the weapons and explosive experts of Cockbite, and it was unfortunate for Ramsey. The two had only refilled their stocks days ago, two days before Gruchy was killed.

Burnie pursed his lips, deep in thought. No one spoke, the air of the room tense; it was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

After a good ten minutes of silence, everyone looking around the room and avoiding eye contact for that time, Burnie spoke.

“Prepare for a war,” he spoke. “We’re taking down Ramsey and his men.”

This time, no one protested.

“You now are all dismissed.”

Everyone carefully looked up at Burnie, movements in sync. Their boss only stood there, going back to his ‘deep in thought’ expression. After another minute of silence and all of them acting like statues, they started to move.

Barbara packed up her laptop, Miles just stood up and left, Adam did the same; Gus and Matt shared a look, getting up slowly, leaving behind a manila folder for their boss, and Joel was left, aiming to talk to Burnie.

They all left, all but Joel and Burnie.

Barb was the last one to leave, looking over her shoulder as she opened the door. ‘ _Prepare for a war’_ rung in her head, echoing around like church bells ringing. It felt haunting, and ominous. With one last disdainful look, she let the door shut softly behind her.

“Burnie,” Joel spoke softly after a few more minutes of silence. “This is going to ruin us. You, me, everyone… We’re friends with Geoff; we can’t just kill him off… We’ve helped each other out, you can’t just _do_ this.”

“He broke the alliance, and he killed my best mercenary. I’m doing what should be done,” the boss’ tone left no room for argument. Luckily, Joel got the picture, only sighing softly before pushing back his chair and getting up.

Disappearing through the door, Burnie was left alone to stew in his own thoughts. The man sighed softly, running a hand through his slightly-curly unbrushed hair.

“You have this coming to you Geoff,” he spoke softly; talking to no one, not even himself. “I’m not sorry.”

With that, he gathered up the file folder left in front of him, and left the conference room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooOOOOOOOOOH ANOTHER SIDE TO THIS STORY. OOOOOOOOOOOOOH YES! (I hoped you like the (massive) change of perspective!)


	9. Threats, and Connecting the Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew receives a letter, and Gavin finds the heist room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, for real, I’m sorry if this is utter shit. I wrote half of this the week I was on running crew for my school’s play and I was crazy busy, only able to be home an hour at a time before I needed to sleep or go somewhere else, so I had little time to write… 
> 
> Leading me to wing about half of this chapter, so if it’s short and shit I’m really, terribly sorry… But at least the last chapter was a little over 2k!
> 
> (and i'm not even sorry about the end... or chapter 10, and you will see why next week!)

A note was taped to the front door.

It went unnoticed until the next morning, when Ryan tried to sneak back into the apartment after spending a night up north in some shitty motel trying to not kill something. It was there, taped to the front door with duct tape. Folded in half neatly, and red, with a picture of a rooster crudely stamped across it. Instantly, Ryan knew who it was from.

It was a warning of sorts, he figured, but he didn’t dare look inside. Not yet.

Carefully, he peeled the tape away from the door, not wanting to rip the paper. Slowly, he pushed open the door, keeping the paper folded shut. He wasn’t going to read it, not yet, this was that type of thing where the whole crew had to be there for it; it being sharing whatever the letter contained.

Making his way down to the few steps into the living room, he hoped Geoff was awake. This was urgent, because who knows how long the letter has been there? It doesn’t really look like people have been coming to the apartment. It could’ve been there the night before, and maybe Ryan didn’t see it as he stormed out, and maybe it’s been there before, and it was too dark for Jack and Geoff to notice when they came back from the bar.

The letter could’ve been there for _days_.

But the blond paused, noticing Jack sitting on the couch, eyes trained on the window and looking deep in thought. For a second, Ryan felt bad for having to disrupt the bearded man. Only for a second; this could possibly be dangerous for them.

“We have mail,” it was a very weak, very flat attempt at a joke, but it took Jack’s attention away from the window and to the red piece of paper in Ryan’s hands, then to Ryan’s face, then back to the letter. The other didn’t say anything for a minute, looking like he was trying to clear his head to speak.

“Did you read it?” The man finally spoke, his voice flat and almost depressing with how tired he sounded. Ryan shook his head harshly, carefully and slowly taking a few steps forward. Silence fell yet again as Ryan turned the folded letter over in his hands a few times, not opening it once.

“If you are worried about me exploding, it’s not going to happen,” Ryan’s voice was just as flat, which wasn’t exactly a surprise right now, with pretty much everyone taking sides and fighting instead of being united like they should be. “Is Geoff awake?”

“He’s in the heist room,” Jack’s voice had a little more life in it now, not sounding as burdened, sort of like some of the weight on his shoulders had fallen off.

“Oh,” Ryan licked his lips. “Can you gather every one up? We should look at this…”

Jack didn’t protest, he just got up off the couch and padded down the hall, footsteps barely heard despite the silence in the apartment. Ryan’s eyes went back down to the letter, and he turned it over once more, to the black stamp of the rooster- Cockbite’s symbol. It took a minute of studying it, but the red of the paper reminded Ryan of blood, and he pursed his lips at the thought.

It took a few minutes for Jack to come back, a disgruntled Geoff following him, along with Michael and Ray trailing behind, who both looked like they were about to fall asleep, or maybe they had just woke up.

“Jack I’m really busy, in the middle of a call, can this wait?” It came out less of a question and more of a statement, a command.

“Yeah can this wait? We were _asleep_ ,” Michael yawned, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes as he plopped onto the couch, Ray following suit and pretty much falling into the Jersey man’s lap.

“No- it can’t wait,” Ryan butted in a little harshly, making all eyes turn to him. “We received a note, and I don’t know how long it’s been there.”

“Where?” Ray drawled, incredibly drowsy from his probably rude and abrupt awakening from Jack.

“Taped to the door,” Ryan spoke simply, finally crossing the living room to sit in the middle of the couch. It must’ve been the cue for everyone else, because Jack and Geoff all sat down too, and they didn’t just sit with a few feet between them all, they sat close together to see the note.

“Oh,” Ray’s lips made an ‘o’ shape. “Are you going to read it?”

“Yes,” Ryan’s voice was almost a snap, and Ray jumped a little, but Michael’s arms wound around his waist to keep him still. “I was getting to it.”

But there wasn’t any ‘getting to it’; silence fell over them, Ryan staring at the letter in his hands once more. Finally, after a few minutes, Geoff asked a question.

“Is Gavin asleep?”

“Yeah,” Jack responded.

“Good, he doesn’t need to know this, not yet.”

_Or maybe ever._

Everyone, but Ryan, shared a worried look, and afterwards, their eyes all went to the letter in the man’s hands. They were all expecting something; something dangerous or life threatening. Taking that as his cue, Ryan slowly unfolded it.

The letter was only three words long.

_Prepare for war._

_-Burns_

The looping, swirling letters of Burns’ name was in the corner, and it wasn’t just a printed copy of the name, it was hand written, and the three letters that could possibly ruin Fake AH were written from the same hand.

Geoff let out a choked noise, sounding too weak for a criminal mastermind. Jack didn’t say anything, but his eyes slowly filled with fright. The sleep vanished from Ray’s face, and his hands clutched Michael’s shirt. Michael cursed under his breath. Ryan froze like a statue.

Burnie Burns didn’t make empty threats…

_This meant war._

While the crew talked about the letter, Gavin wasn’t really asleep; he had wandered out of his room to find the bathroom, aiming to take a shower. It’d been days since he bathed, and he figured now was a good time to. It took him a little bit of searching, testing a few doors to find them leading to bedrooms. He tested another door, carefully pushing it open.

Luckily, it was the bathroom, and he flicked on the light, stepping in and shutting the door behind himself. It took a minute to undress, get in the shower, and then another five minutes to figure out the faucet in the tub. First try- Gavin nearly burned himself with how hot the water was, and the second and third try were far too cold, and the forth time’s the charm, he finally got it to water that was warm, and actually a little on the hot side.

Perfect temperature for the Brit.

He didn’t really have any of the shampoo he used at home here, or the body-wash, so he just used what was in the bathroom. There must be bathrooms attached to a few bedrooms, because for five people living in the apartment, there were only two sets of shampoo and body-wash in the shower.

He took a long shower, just like he did at home, spending a good 10 minutes standing there letting the water warm him before he actually started to clean himself off. Washing away the sweat and tear tracks left over felt refreshing, like he was scrubbing away layers of pressure and anxiety from the past few days. Sure, the feeling wouldn’t last forever, but at least he could bask in it for a little while.

The Brit finished up showering 15 minutes later, and he reluctantly stepped out of the steam filled shower, and into the chilly bathroom; instantly going for a towel to wipe away the water to hopefully warm up. Whatever warmth the water had given him was gone in mere seconds, leaving the Brit shivering.

After wiping away the water, and getting some of it out of his hair, he wrapped the towel around his waist, also using a forearm to wipe some condensation off the mirror. A sigh left Gavin’s mouth- he didn’t look like himself. There were bags under his eyes, and he looked extremely tired and stressed, with his hair almost falling in front of his eyes.

Not having any of his usual hair products to keep his hair up in a messy bed-head type style would make that happen to his hair. Sighing once again, he turned around; looking around for the clothes he _thought_ he had brought in. Stupidly- he had totally forgotten them.

Well, that meant he’d have to quickly head back to his room, hoping he ran into no one on the trek down the hall. At least he didn’t have to cross the entire apartment in only a towel. That was the only upside to this that the Brit could think of.

But he pushed open the door, peeking out carefully to make sure no one was there before he hurried out.

Completely forgetting which door was the one to the guest bedroom- he pushed open the door just one room over, the room to the heist room.

And he wasn’t aware of it until he pushed open the door.

Maps covered the walls, and all of them had all sorts of notes and thumbtacks pressed into them, marking something Gavin was unaware of. He blinked slowly, looking at all of them. Some looked decades old, some looked like they’d just been printed; they all meant something for the crew. He stepped further into the room, gripping his towel tightly, kind of forgetting that he was trying to head back to his room.

There was a whiteboard on one wall that pretty much took up the entire wall, and it was covered in notes written in what looked like chicken scratch. There was pictures taped all around, red lines from a dry-erase marker connecting them all together. The picture in the middle is what made him step closer to it, his eyes slowly widening as he did so.

It was a picture of him and Dan, on the day they had bought their house in the suburbs of Los Santos… But it wasn’t the angle that Gavin remembers it being. He had taken a picture of them long ago on his phone, which the house in background… But this angle was them moving their boxes into the house… like someone had taken a picture from their car or something, because the picture was blurred like the camera was moving.

The red line connecting it was a printed out copy of the papers he and his fiancé had signed to buy it, and connected to that was plane tickets to Los Santos from London. There was lines connecting everything, _everything_. The blurred picture of them moving in led to a picture of his house recently, a date printed on the bottom corner, only a week ago. Connected to that was pictures of their license plates.

 It was like anything he had bought or meant something important was on this whiteboard. Like the last five years of his life had been plotted out on this board like someone was trying to solve a crime… Or commit a murder.

He felt like crying all over again, and he did, letting out a soft, strangled sounding sob.

Gavin couldn’t stand to look at it anymore, he let out another sob, and turned, heading out of the room… and he almost did- until he smashed right into someone’s chest.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *loud gasps* ooOOOOOH NO GAVIN FOUND OUT SOMETHING HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOOW


	10. Falling Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin falls apart, shattering into a million pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOH man, major angst. Major MAJOR angst! Not sorry though… And I’m proud of myself, I wrote this right after I finished up chapter 9! Writing two chapters in one night? GO ME! But please take the warnings seriously.
> 
> Also- special thanks to chaoticpeace for leaving the world’s greatest comment and helping me tie everything together in this story. Thank them- they’re going to make this story veeery juicy, dramatic, and angsty!
> 
>  
> 
> TW; suicidal thoughts, mental breakdowns, some serious arguing

Gavin couldn’t stand to look at it anymore, he let out another sob, and turned, heading out of the room… and he almost did- until he smashed right into someone’s chest. That someone was Michael, and he did _not_ look pleased. Gavin gasped, stumbling back, almost dropping his grip on the towel around his waist. Michael _seriously_ didn’t look pleased- his jaw was tight and his hands were curled into tight fists.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” He growled, reaching out to grab the Brit’s wrist. He almost succeeded, until Gavin wrenched his arm away, anger flashing in his own eyes. Seeing the white board sparked something… It made him… _angry_.

Angry because these men ruined his life- they killed his fiancé, then took Gavin and hid him away, forcing him to grieve, cry, and deal with the pain alone. He was angry because these men have gathered up enough about his daily life to perfectly kill his fiancé, and remove all evidence. Remove everything on himself and his fiancé from the world- like they never existed. They had effectively ruined his life… Even if they did let him go- he would be alone and probably without a job by now.

But Michael did not look pleased, practically growling when Gavin wrenched his arm away.

“You need to get out of here,” the Jersey man hissed, grabbing for Gavin’s wrists once more, and pulled both of them together, having a death grip on Gavin’s wrists. It would’ve hurt if Gavin was actually paying attention. But by now, anger was coursing through his veins. He was shaking by now; he couldn’t care less if Michael bruised his wrists from the other’s death-grip.

“How could you _do this?_ ” Gavin grit his teeth, his tone demanding.

“I don’t have to tell _you_ ,” Michael hissed back, pulling the Brit forward by his wrists, but the other dug his bare feet into the carpet floor, refusing to move even an inch. “You’re just staying here, you aren’t apart of the crew. I don’t have to tell you _anything_.”

“ _Answer me!_ I want to know why you would dig so deeply into someone’s life and ruin _everything_ ,” Gavin’s voice started to rise, pushing back against Michael’s words. He wasn’t going to let this drop- not a chance.

“I don’t have to tell you anything!” Michael finally snapped; his almost-screaming words could carry across the apartment. There was no doubt; the others were definitely listening in now. “You are just collateral damage. I would’ve fucking killed you too if I had the chance.”

They were going to start an argument; a _big,_ a monster of one.

“That would be great! I _wish_ I was dead,” Gavin’s voice cracked horribly as finally he screamed. He let his anger out, fueling it into his words. “I wish I was _fucking_ dead because you’ve ruined my life!”

Michael didn’t respond, but his grip was still as strong. He wasn’t planning on letting go anytime soon.

“You dug so deeply into my relationship,” Gavin let out a broken sob, the sound mixing into his words and feeling as sharp as knives. “You’ve _ruined_ my life! You killed the _only_ person I’ve ever cared about!”

His words were echoing around the apartment, and so where the broken sobs he was letting out.

“For once in my _bloody_ life I was happy! I had the best person in the world with me- I was going to be _married._ I was going to have a happy life with the man I truly loved and now he’s dead! Rotting in the _fuckin’_ ocean! My fiancé is at the bottom of the ocean and I _love_ him! I love a **_dead man!_** ”

He was screaming at this point, just letting out all of the anger he didn’t even know he had. It was hidden under the grieving and depression he’s been facing for days now. But now it was surfacing- all of the anger he’s slowly, and unconsciously built up towards the five other men. Michael just had to be there to deal with it face to face… even though the other four could hear him clearly.

“He’s gone! Because you just had to get rid of him for _business_ or whatever your shitty excuse is. And I could swear that you don’t care! You don’t care about ruining my life- and you don’t care about me. You don’t care about how much pain I’m going through. You only care about yourselves! I’m just _collateral damage_ to you!”

Michael’s anger dissipated in seconds, his grip was gone in less than that, and now he was no longer holding onto the other’s wrists, his hands were only ghosting over them. But Gavin’s wrists didn’t move, still held together like something invisible was holding them together.

“The only person who _ever_ cared about me is dead, and now I’m just as pathetic as I was before. I’m the _god damn collateral damage_.”

Gavin’s chest was heaving, and his hands finally moved, hands covering his face as broken sobs filled the apartment. The sound was heart breaking and filled with pain and despair, and Michael’s eyes watched as Gavin fell apart into a million pieces.

“I’m sorry,” Michael finally spoke. That was all the words he had at the moment; nothing else in his mind. Gavin let out a loud cry at those words.

“ ** _SORRY_**?! You think an apology can fix this? A _bleedin’_ apology can _bring him back_ , an apology can fix _me_ ; an _apology can fix everything you’ve done?_ ” Gavin exploded once more, like a grenade. “An apology doesn’t fucking fix _anything_. Saying sorry will do _nothing_.”

The Brit was left panting, his chest heaving as his hands ran through his hair, tugging at it sharply. It had to hurt, but the Brit didn’t even acknowledge the stinging pain.

But it looked like Gavin had run out of steam. His anger looked like it was fading away, and that was the final bit of it. Michael watched as Gavin fell to his knees, hands now starting to grip his hair so hard his knuckles were white as a ghost. Michael snapped out of whatever daze he was in, and fell to his knees too, curling his arms around Gavin and bringing the Brit into his chest.

Just like Ryan had done days ago, he softly shushed the other, holding him close and hoping to whatever higher power there was that this would help calm the other down.

Now, the Brit was just crying, his sobs echoing around the apartment. The sobs were heartbreaking, sounding like the Brit was a china doll, and that doll at broken into a thousand pieces… and would never have the chance of being put back together. It sounded like glass shards, sharp and deadly and even one small touch can hurt you.

It didn’t matter now that Gavin was only dressed in a towel, or that he was soaking Michael’s shirt with his tears, it only mattered that Michael was holding him close, slowly and barely consoling the Brit as he fell apart.

“I miss him…”

Michael barely heard the words.

“I miss him so much… I know it’s only b-been a few days since I saw him… but I miss him…”

Gavin’s voice was barely audible, and it was shaking horribly, sounding nothing like himself.

“I miss his laugh, his voice… I miss him so much…”

No names needed to be said, Michael knew who the Brit was talking about.

“He was always there… Always there to keep the nightmares away…”

Michael slowly inhaled, letting the Brit murmur.

“The last thing I said to him was ‘Don’t work too hard’… I wish I knew sooner…”

While the Brit babbled, Michael’s eyes slowly rose to the white board that started this entire mess. He remembered Geoff coming up to the crew, calling a meeting, and telling him about the job. They were all wary of the job at first, but after they had slept on the idea, they all were ready to do it. He remembered digging up the address of the couple, and having to watch the house closely to learn the schedule, and when the house would be empty, when they got home from work, or when one of them would be alone…

He had watched the couple so carefully; he could see the love between the two and just how much they depended on each other. They had depended on each other so much, that whenever one came home late, the other would wait for them. When Gruchy had come home late into the night, Gavin had waited on the couch, and ended up falling asleep waiting for the other… They had depended on each other so much…

It didn’t hurt when he had to kill Gruchy, it didn’t hurt when he brought Gavin to the apartment, it didn’t hurt when the Brit had gone through days of silent grieving while he locked himself away in the guest bedroom, all of that didn’t _hurt_.

But now it burned. It burned like the flames of Hell, or jumping head first into lava… It burned deep inside, through his heart, his lungs, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes; it burned _everywhere_.

He knew what it felt like to lose someone, but he had blocked that out. Being a criminal in Los Santos made you block those emotions out. If you didn’t block out sympathy, grief, or just plain emotions, you would get yourself killed. He had done so, he never felt emotional pain anymore; he had blocked it _out_.

But now… _Now_ , they were hitting him with full force, and he felt tears prick his eyes. He had been in Gavin’s shoes, he knew what it felt like- and it burned his heart and every nerve in his body.

It burned everything in his body, every muscle in his body hurt, and he knew it must’ve been a million times worse for Gavin.

His eyes were trained on that whiteboard, and Gavin was still shaking in his arms, an emotional mess. All that Gavin could do at this point in time was cry.

_All of his anger was out, and the apartment was dead silent of any other noise other than his heart-wrenching sobs._

 

Gavin may seem like a man who wasn’t all that frightening, but when he was truly angry, _truly and honestly angry_ , he was terrifying. The scariness of his anger was strongly helped by the fact that he was never upset like that.

And Michael was forced to deal with it- forced to take in his yells, screams, and sobs, and forced to help pick the pieces that used to be him back up.

The Jersey man held Gavin in his arms, the sobs slowly faded away, but the Brit was still shaking. Carefully, Michael stood up, gathering the Brit up in his arms. It was better they went to the guest bedroom, and slept this off… instead of spending the night curled up on the heist room floor.

The apartment was dead quiet when Michael carried Gavin to not the guest bedroom, but his own bedroom, and the apartment was silent and dark, like no one lived inside. It was an eerie feeling to see the apartment so dark, but Michael didn’t care right now; his legs felt like jelly and his arms shook a little as he carefully set the Brit down on the messy sheets.

Gavin looked like he was about to melt into the sheets, and Michael crossed the room to grab some boxers from his dresser, figuring it was better to sleep in boxers than a towel. Luckily, Gavin grabbed the boxers, and Michael had some decency, he turned and let the Brit change.

He looked back when he felt the sheets move, and felt them tug. Gavin had pulled the sheets over him, and looked like a shaking lump under the sheets.

Michael was smart.

He knew what to do- he knew not to leave the Brit alone, and that’s exactly what he did. The Jersey man slid under the sheets, pulling Gavin to his chest, wrapping his arms around Gavin’s torso. It took hours, going far into the night for Gavin to fully calm down, and Michael was awake for all of it- holding the Brit close to him and shushing him softly.

The Brit had fallen apart, and the next morning is when they’d start to pick the pieces up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOAH SERIOUS ANGST OOOH MAN. I know this was real bad when I felt like crying, and it’s really difficult to make me cry for fics. So.. I’m sorry (not really- I feed off your emotions). But yeah, I barely write angst and I think this is why! Oh well…


	11. The Next Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the morning after the falling apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there’s still some angst in this… ooooh well. I’m not particularly sorry about the last chapter though??? Like- I feed on sads man, it gives me power as a writer. (that sounds strange, but it’s a powerful feeling!)  
> Anyway, just enjoy the chapter guys!

Ray, Ryan, Jack and Geoff had heard _everything;_ every yell, every sob, every _word_.

All of the guilt they had days ago when they had their first crew meeting with Gavin, back in the kitchen where the Brit really learned who his fiancé ( _or really, ex-fiancé_ ) really was had come back and slapped them in the face, making them feel a million times worse. It felt like all of the guilt they’ve ever faced combined into one, and then multiplied a million times.

Gavin had been slowing cracking over the few days he’s been there, and it’s either those cracks or fixed, or those cracks grow… and they did grow, until the Brit shattered, leaving a mess everywhere. A real bad mess that they’d have to clean up, pick up the pieces and try and put them back together. They would have to help Gavin, there was no way that the Brit would ever be able to put himself back together alone.

But the yelling died down, fading off into harsh, pain-filled sobs, and that left the four in the living room still as statues. The words were sinking in, and that made them all feel guilt for ruining Gavin’s life. His fiancé was dead, he probably had no job now from how long he’s been not going into work, he now owned an empty house that was filled with relics of a truly dead relationship, and all data on him online had been wiped clean like he never existed. They had ruined any chance of the Brit having an even close to normal life now.

That was just… depressing. Sure, they were criminals who were heartless to their enemies and ran the city with an iron fist, and they had built up walls to protect themselves like this and not let emotions take over. They had been called heartless machines, _robots_ from how little emotion they were showing… But their resolves were starting to crack and all apart. The armor they wore to appear heartless was starting to chip.

_The death of Dan Gruchy wasn’t just starting a war,_

_It was changing them all._

 

It had been a long night.

The four in the living room had stayed there like statues for a good hour, just thinking over what they heard, the yells they heard. Sure, they didn’t hear the babbling Brit and his murmurs about his dead fiancé, but they still had a lot to think about.

After they all started to move and decided to sleep, or at least _try_ to sleep, it was a difficult night. It took hours for all of them to fall asleep, if they did find some rest. Geoff and Jack had taken to the master bedroom, and they only got two or three hours’ worth of sleep. Ryan didn’t even try to sleep; he just sat in the kitchen, his head in his hands. Ray only got 1 hour of sleep, tossing and turning the entire time.

Michael stayed awake for Gavin.

Gavin slept restlessly, and while he slept the entire night, the rest was full of nightmares and terrors. He woke early in the morning, before the sun was even up. On any other day, that’d be good. He’d be able to cook a good breakfast, and maybe leave for work a little early so his boss wouldn’t yell at him for being a minute late… but now… it just wasn’t okay.

The atmosphere of the apartment was tense, just plain saddening. It wasn’t tense like it had been the other day, where it was tense with anger… This time it was just tense with grief and pain. They were all suffering in some way, and it just made the air feel tight and heavy.

But one by one, they all drifted out of their rooms and into the kitchen.

Jack murmured a good morning to Ryan, who looked like he was going to fall asleep at the table, before starting to put together breakfast for when they all came out of their rooms. Ray and Michael had come in together, despite sleeping in different rooms, and when they sat down, their chairs were flush against each other, the two leaning against each other as they fought to stay awake. Geoff had come in, his hair dripping a little from the cold shower he took to try and wake up, and luckily it had worked.

Gavin was the only one who was missing from the breakfast table, and from what Michael drawled out when he looked a little more talkative, sleeping with him had helped some. Letting out his anger would hopefully help greatly…

Michael had also mentioned that he ended up getting up for an hour in the middle of the night to just pace in front of the window wall when he felt too stressed to sleep, and in that hour that the Brit was alone in the bed, the other had whimpered and started to shake. It had stopped only a minute after Michael had joined him back in the bed. Being alone didn’t help the Brit.

“Just moving through the stages of grief,” Geoff piped up, sliding back into his seat with a cup of coffee he made for himself.

A good ten minutes after Geoff had come in is when Gavin appeared. He entered the kitchen, dragging his feet and rubbing his eyes, dressed in a pair of sweatpants that were a little too long, and a hoodie that had to be 3 sizes too big because the Brit was drowning in the thing. It took a minute to realize that he wasn’t alone, and he rubbed his eyes, looking up at all of them. His eyes got to Ryan last, and he gasped a little as he studied the man’s maskless-face.

It made everyone let out a chuckle when the Brit’s eyes fell flat when he slid into an empty chair next to Geoff.

“Huh,” the Brit started, everyone watching him closely like he was going to explode. It made Gavin shy away just a little, sort of like a scared puppy… “Expected your face to be a little more… creepy.”

It took two seconds before everyone actually started to laugh, making the Brit throw his hands up. He didn’t really look shy now, which was a step in the right direction.

“What?! I expected like… scars or a crooked nose or something,” Gavin tried to defend himself but he really wasn’t doing a great job at it. Even Ryan was laughing now, cracking a smile and his icy-blue eyes were looking full of life.

“You’re already got the crooked nose!” Geoff let out a cackling laugh, and Gavin pouted like a little child, but then ended up starting to laugh along because of how ridiculous and hysterical Geoff’s cackle-like laughter was.

But as the laughter started to die down, Michael looked a little nervous, and shared a look with Jack. After laughing for a little while, the tension in the room left, but now it started to creep back in. Gavin started to look like a lost and scared puppy once more, bringing his arms into his lap, looking like he would curl up into a ball at any second.

Geoff cringed, trying to hide it. It was cringe-worthy to him, the ‘it’ being how scared and skittish Gavin acted around all of them. He was about to ask about it- but Michael beat him to the punch.

“Gav,” Michael started, and with worry-filled eyes, Gavin looked up at the other. “Are you feeling any better?”

It looked like Gavin was about to shatter once more and they all glanced at the Brit with the same worried look. They all hoped that this wasn’t going to end up like the night before…

“Y-Yeah,” it was painfully obvious that Gavin was lying. He was slowly coiling his arms around his own stomach, looking like he was about to curl up into a ball at any moment. “I-I’m fine.”

They all knew the word ‘fine’ and how it was used in a poor attempt to hide the pain, the sadness, or just anything. Once again, they all shared a wary look before their eyes came back to Gavin, who was now looking down at his lap with his head bowed.

“You don’t look fine,” Ray murmured, blinking slowly behind his somewhat dirty glasses.

“I’m _fine_ ,” the Brit insisted. “I slept well, and I’m out here right?”

“Gav…” Michael said again, and unlike the first time Michael called him that, the Brit flinched. “You cried in your sleep.”

Gavin looked lost; he didn’t know what to say now.

“You blew up at Michael last night,” Geoff raised a hand to rest it on Gavin’s shoulder, but the Brit flinched before they even made contact and the tattooed man lowered his arm with a distressed look. “You aren’t doing okay… and we care about you.”

“You care about me now?”

That made everyone flinch, and it didn’t help that Gavin raised his head and scanned all of their faces with watery eyes.

“We thought about this a lot last night… We’re sorry for ignoring you,” Geoff started to take command of the conversation, and everyone thanked him in their heads. They all had no words to say that would help the situation.

“Are you just apologizing? Or are you making a promise?” Gavin whimpered. He practically curled up on the chair; he brought his legs up so his knees touched his chest, and then his arms curled around his stomach protectively.

Geoff was at a loss for words, but Ryan scraped something together in his mind and spoke.

“What do you want us to promise you?”

From that one question, the five criminals were giving Gavin the choice of what they would do. Ryan was smart- if they had made promises without Gavin’s input, they could promise all the wrong things and help no one. But now, they would promise what Gavin wanted, and it would _hopefully_ help them all.

“Promise me you won’t ignore me.” Gavin’s words were barely below a whisper, but with the only sound being the sizzling of the bacon on the stove, everyone could hear him. “Promise me that you’ll help me… and I won’t be alone…”

“Do you want someone to be with you at night?” Jack was still by the stove, but he took the two steps it took to get to the table and rested a hand in the middle of Gavin’s back. Instead of the Brit flinching, he melted a little, resting his chin on his knees with his eyes falling shut.

“Yes,” the Brit murmured, nodding just barely. That was all he needed to say.

“Okay,” Jack’s voice was low and soft, meant to be comforting, and thank _god_ it was working. “We won’t ignore you anymore okay?”

“Okay,” Gavin agreed, looking like he was about to melt. The other four only watched, not wanting to say something and jinx the calm that had passed over the room.

“Is there anything else you want us to do for you?” Jack kept his hands on Gavin’s back calmly.

“Promise you won’t fight.”

Everyone shared a wary look. It was going to be hard to make that promise with all that’s been happening. Sure, they could always bicker about what to do next when the Brit was out of the room- but that was still a difficult promise to make. But Jack did it anyway.

“Sure, we won’t fight in front of you.”

Gavin nodded again, whispering ‘okay’.

“Are you hungry?” Jack was acting like a mother bird, caring and comforting… and _always_ willing to cook up something.

The Brit didn’t say anything this time; he just nodded and let Jack take his hand of his back to serve up breakfast.

Now, the tense atmosphere had melted away, leaving them all taking deep breaths without feeling like they were suffocating. But breakfast was served a few minutes later, Jack dropping Geoff’s and Gavin’s plates off first before Michael’s and Ray’s, then Ryan’s and his own last. Breakfast was quiet, no one wanting to disrupt the peace, and they all just wanted to eat their food.

When the dishes were clean and put away into the sink, Jack and Ryan started to clean up the kitchen, Michael and Ray took to the living room like normal, and Geoff followed them to bash on their shitty game playing skills and make just dumb comments.

That left Gavin sitting in the kitchen, but he didn’t go back to the guest bedroom, he shuffled into the living room, sitting between Michael and Geoff, and not the very end of the couch like he did a day or two ago. Geoff smiled at him warmly, greeting him and acting like Gavin was really there, and not ignored him.

The Brit smiled back, and slowly started to join Geoff with making shitty remarks. Gavin was warming up to all of them, and the five criminals weren’t going to let this go.

_It only took one of them to fall apart._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there’s still some angst in this… ooooh well. I’m not particularly sorry about the last chapter though??? Like- I feed on sads man, it gives me power as a writer. (that sounds strange, but it’s a powerful feeling!)
> 
> Anyway, just enjoy the chapter guys!


	12. Busting Down the Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were being followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay- so while the angst is over (FOR NOW)… there’s some action in here! I’m actually going to put in some plot, and not just have it on the back burner since now we’ve kind of covered Gavin’s grief for the most part… for what I’ve got planned- we’ll come back to their relationships and stuff later… BUT IT’S TIME FOR SOME PLOTS AND ACTION!!! 
> 
> And lucky you! This is most likely the longest chapter I’ve written so far!

The next two days was calm and relaxed. Gavin had been far better than he had been in those two days. He didn’t hide away in the guest bedroom; he joined them for meals and ate with them, and talked with them. They were all doing better.

No arguments, as they promised. Even though Jack and Geoff had been sharing a few wary looks about when Burnie would do now, they didn’t argue. The man had taped the note to the door and vanished, and it was suspicious. Geoff wanted to tell them all to have their guards up because they could get attacked at any moment. But he didn’t; he didn’t want to ruin what they had going.

He didn’t want to jinx it.

But Geoff pushed that on the back-burner in his mind and focused on Gavin and everyone else because you couldn’t fight against the enemy if your team was in shambles.

_They had a strong team, and hopefully they would keep it that way._

The Fake AH Crew always had those days that felt disgustingly domestic. This was one of those days, but for once, no one commented on it. They all started with eating a homemade breakfast together, and then Ryan, Geoff, and Jack went off grocery shopping while the other three stayed home and did a few chores like the laundry and the dishes.

It had been a grossly domestic day for them.

“Shit!” Michael stopped in the middle of shoving his laundry into the washing machine. Ray was sitting on top of the dryer, his legs swinging a little as he raised an eyebrow at the other.

“I forgot to tell Geoff to get some of that Hawaiian pizza we got last week!” Michael ran a hand through his hair and Ray laughed a little.

“Then call him. We don’t live in the 80’s where you can’t call a cellphone,” Ray joked, getting his phone out from his pocket and tossing it over to Michael, who caught it and started to find the man’s contact. The Jersey man was about to hit ‘call’ for Geoff’s contact when the phone started to buzz.

_It was Geoff._

Geoff, Jack, and Ryan have always found that going to the grocery store was… different… than their normal lives. During big heists, they always had masks on, so in public places no one would recognize them. That being said, they should be used to not being recognized. They sort of were- but it was still a little bit of a weird feeling to walk around the grocery store like normal human beings.

It made them feel normal for a little bit, instead of being five star criminals.

But the three men, dubbed ‘the Gents’ from Michael and Ray, walked down every aisle, picking up food, toilet paper, laundry detergent, anything they thought they would need anytime soon ( _that also meant picking up a few bottles of alcohol_ ).

The three were fortunate this time. Without Michael and Ray, they could make this trip to the store a lot shorter. But they made it to check out when Ryan felt a pair of eyes on his back.

Being discreet, Ryan carefully looked over his shoulder as Geoff pulled out his wallet to pay and show a ( _albeit fake)_ ID for the alcohol he picked up. There were too many people in the grocery store for Ryan to weed out who was staring at him. He wondered about it too, because who would stare at him? He wasn’t wearing his easily identifiable leather jacket or mask, he was wearing jeans and a hoodie over a white t-shirt, having the ‘hot dad look’ ( _Geoff’s words, not his_ _own_ ).

“Someone’s watching us,” Ryan leaned over to murmur to Jack, his lips barely moving. Jack heard him, and replayed the message to Geoff, who didn’t react at all, only nodded. If someone was watching them with a purpose, they would only look more suspicious if they reacted boldly.

“Well come on, we’re done here,” Geoff grabbed a few bags, and Ryan and Jack got the rest of the grocery-filled plastic bags before following their boss out to the car. They had also picked a car that looked normal, so no fancy chrome sports car, or Ryan’s black and green Zentorno. It was just some shitty SUV for days like this.

They filled the trunk with groceries, and Jack got in the driver’s seat, Geoff in the passenger seat, and Ryan in back. Instead of taking off and tearing down the roads at high speed in normal Fake AH Crew fashion, Jack followed the traffic laws like a normal civilian should. It was all part of the cover to appear normal to people who aren’t purposefully looking at them.

It took them a good ten minutes to realize the same car had been following them the entire way back home. Sure, it may just be nothing important, but Ryan didn’t have a good feeling about it. The car wasn’t that suspicious, it was a dark grey SUV without tinted windows, and it honestly looked like a normal car any civilian would have.

“There’s someone following us…” Ryan commented, and Geoff looked up in the rear-view mirror.

“You sure?” The tattooed man questioned.

“Almost,” Ryan’s answer didn’t sound to confident, but they could never be too careful.

They turned onto the street were the apartment was, and the car that had been following them pulled off to park on the side of the road. With a watchful eye, Ryan watched out of the back window to see what was going on. They all knew about the car, and Geoff was taking glances into the rear-view mirror. Jack was about to pull into the ramp that lead down into the basement when Ryan saw the car door open.

Out stepped someone they all knew.

“ _Fuck!_ Jack hurry we have to get inside!” Ryan hissed, and Geoff looked back in the rear-view mirror, cursing loudly.

_Now out of the car, stood Burnie Burns_.

 

Michael hit accept, and then speaker phone, holding the phone in his palm for Ray to hear too. They were met with heavy breathing and a few muttered curses.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Geoff finally spoke, and his words were breathy like he was sprinting. Michael and Ray shared a look of worry.

“What’s up boss?” Michael asked carefully, leaning forward subconsciously.

“Fucking _Burns_ , he’s on his way to the apartment. Fuck- we saw him driving home and we tried to lose him,” Geoff took a pause to pant a little. “B-But Ryan’s sure he saw him down the road. _Dammit_ he’s gonna kill us all.”

Geoff sounded… _scared_. Michael and Ray abandoned the laundry, heading out of the laundry room.

“What should we do?” Ray’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Get your shit packed up.”

They could hear the distant ding of the elevator through Geoff’s end, and they knew the trio was on their way up.

“Be quick,” they could hear Ryan too. “We could be too late and we might have to fight him off…”

“We need to leave the apartment,” Geoff added onto Ryan’s sentence, and Michael and Ray started to break into a run- going to their room to pack up a bag.

From across the apartment, they could hear the door swing open then shut sharply, and Geoff yelling at Jack and Ryan to ‘ _get your fucking stuff together we have to go!’_.

Ray’s phone beeped with the ‘end call’ sound, and the Puerto Rican took it back. “I’ll go get Gavin- he’s taking a nap, and you go pack some of my shit in your bag. Don’t forget my sniper’s behind the dresser!”

Ray called over his shoulder as Michael disappeared into Ray’s room, and the other man yelled back a ‘sure’.

Bursting into Gavin’s room, Ray crossed the room to the bed in three steps. “Gavin, _Gavin_ get up!”

Shaking the Brit’s shoulders, Ray hissed out his words. It didn’t take long for Gavin to stir.

“Wha-at?” Gavin slurred his accent thick with sleep. Slowly, he blinked and raised his hands to rub the sleep out of his eyes. “What’s going on?” The Brit looked at Ray with a worried look. The Puerto Rican was now crossing the bedroom to throw the few pieces of clothing in the room into the duffle bag that had yet to be unpacked.

“We have... uh… that dude that your fiancé worked for down the street and we need to move,” Ray tried to speak as calmly as he could. It pained him when he heard Gavin’s breathing hitch and suddenly quicken.

“W-Where are we going?” Gavin was pushing the sheets off his legs with wide eyes. It was like magic, what one sentence can do to the Brit. He went from half-awake and drowsy to looking like he’d been awake for _days_. It’s amazing what one sentence can do.

“I-I…” Ray stuttered, and he took a shaky breath before deciding what to say. Anything he could say could make the Brit panic more. “I-I don’t know. Geoff hasn’t said anything about it yet. But get dressed we have to leave.”

The duffle-bag now had everything back inside, and Ray tossed it on the bed, right next to Gavin.

“Hurry up and get dressed,” Ray then disappeared out the door to pack his own shit. Gavin was left alone, but at least he didn’t freeze up in fear. He opened the bag to find a pair of shoes, and he slipped them on his already-socked feet. Now, all that was left outside the duffle-bag was his phone, and Gavin shoved that in the pocket of his sweatpants before rushing out of the room. He didn’t even bother putting on something else; he was only in his pajamas.

He could hear the slams of the other five shutting their doors, and in seconds they were all gathered in the living room, bags slung over shoulders.

“Well _come on_ ,” Geoff hissed, turning sharply before rushing up the stairs. Right as Geoff got to the top of stairs, the door looked like it was about to burst open with how hard it was slammed into. If the world was a cartoon, that door would’ve curved out a foot away from the frame before slamming into place. But the world wasn’t a cartoon, so the lock started to give away and it was one more slam before the door slammed open. The door knob would leave a hole in the wall, or at the very least it would leave a dent, no doubt.

The second that door slammed open, the five criminals had guns out and pointed at the man in the doorway. Gavin didn’t have a weapon, but he took a step back, looking like he was going to curl up into a little ball. The Brit was terrified of what was going to happen- and he was never exactly a fan of guns.

“It’s nice to see you again Geoff,” Burnie’s tone was light and teasing, and the man was just cocky enough to put his hands up like he was surrendering. “Nice to see the crew again, and nice to know you all still have trigger-happy reflexes.”

“Shut your damn mouth Burns,” Geoff hissed, a pistol in his hands and pointed at the man’s heart. Those words made Burnie laugh and Ryan clench his jaw. The calm that had been in the apartment for the past two days vanished in thin air, leaving the atmosphere tense and harsh like it had been at the start of the week.

“Relax, I’m just here to talk,” Burnie gestured with his hands at his sides, tilting his head a bit as he talked. This was so cliché- the villain storming in and saying ‘we’re just going to _talk_ ’ to the heroes of the story, this was incredibly cliché.

“Right,” Michael rolled his eyes, sass filling his voice.

That made Burnie not so pleased, and his voice went from purposely high and teasing to low and serious. “I’m just going to talk with your boss. And if you don’t want me to kill you, you should shut your fucking mouth.”

Everyone watched as Geoff sighed through his nose and locked his jaw. “Talk,” was all he said, a command to Burnie. Fortunately, Burns didn’t snark back about he makes the commands around here. He just started to talk.

“So you killed my top mercenary, and I see you have his fiancé,” Burnie’s eyes moved, and he locked eyes with Gavin. The Brit let out a whimper and shied away, taking a step back and bowing his head. “You know that means the alliance is off.”

“Yeah, I’m aware,” Geoff didn’t take the ‘snarky’ route Michael obviously wanted to, and kept his tone serious. “I know the conditions we settled on.”

“Good, then you also should know that with no alliance means that we can do as we please,” Burnie’s voice kept changing- it was back to light and calm. It was like he was trying to talk to a child calmly without upsetting the kid.

“I got your note Burns,” Geoff fought rolling his eyes. Talking with Burnie could be annoying sometimes. “I know your plan. You’re going to start shit, but look…”

Jack and Ryan shared a worried look, the two both having a strong feeling where this was going to go. Burnie, on the other hand, looked at Geoff with a raised eyebrow, his hands moving to his hips.

“I didn’t exactly… _remember_ that Gruchy worked for you.” The words were calm- like Geoff was trying to keep something out of his mind.

But that set off a spark in Burnie.

“How could you _not remember he worked for me_? If you actually killed him you should’ve realized it!” Burnie’s voice started to rise. Geoff kept a calm face and voice, and it was a pretty good mask. He was hiding all emotions, whether that be anger or maybe… something defensive?

“We watched the house,” Geoff said, and Michael looked downcast all of the sudden. They had watched the house, and didn’t personally watch the two men who lived inside.

“ _Sure_ ,” Burnie rolled his eyes, crossing his arms now. “Like that gives any explanation.”

“The guy who put up the offer didn’t say anything on it! If I had known Gruchy was running with you I would’ve ignored it completely,” Geoff was now trying to defend himself a little. But he looked… unsure of himself.

Burns was having none of it.

“Bull _shit_ ,” he hissed through his teeth. “The past is the past. Nothing you can do about it now.”

No one really said anything… Well, everyone but Ray.

“Don’t we know it,” he mumbled, and everyone heard him but didn’t say a thing.

It was a minute before Burns spoke again.

“It doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that our alliance is off.”

Geoff looked like he was going to say something. He parted his lips, but closed them a few seconds later. Burnie took a step forward, leaning forward so that his and Geoff’s face weren’t too far apart, maybe only an inch or two apart.

“You’re a dead man Geoff,” he whispered with a smirk on his lips. “You and your little crew are dead men.”

“Get out of my fucking apartment,” Geoff hissed, finally lowering the gun to shove the man back towards the door. “Get the fuck out. I better not see your face in this apartment again.”

With that, Burnie Burns turned and disappeared out the door, which slammed behind him.

The apartment was now quiet, and slowly, Geoff turned to face his crew, who were all lowering their guns. The look on their boss’ face was a mix of anger and something else they couldn’t put a name to… it just didn’t look right.

“What now boss?” Ray asked softly.

“We get the hell out of here and move to a safe house,” Geoff took a deep breath. Everyone started to move, Michael slinging and arm over Gavin’s shoulder and the other started to head down to the garage to get a car and run.

They had to get out of there while they could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOH man I’m excited for this! This is the real start of the action, because as I stated earlier, the relationships and stuff will possibly take to the back burner for a few chapters while I put in some more plot (FINALLY!). But I hope you enjoyed!


	13. Safe House One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang moves into the first safe house of their adventure. Hopefully, this is the only safehouse they need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty freewood centric here… BUT I TOTALLY LIED- RELATIONSHIPS AREN’T EXACTLY TAKING TO THE BACK BURNER, but I had no idea how to end this chapter, so here ya go… and I totally didn’t expect this to be as long as it was. The last chapter was the longest one, around 2600 words, but this totally topped that. Huuuuh- the things you can do when you kinda wing’d half the chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> T/W WARNING: heavy talk about Dan and his death, gruesome body horror, mentions of super minor character death

They got about halfway across the city before they realized where they were going.

Instead of taking the highways, they took the less busy side streets. It was just the easiest way to go. The cars they had picked were two unsuspecting cars, two normal cars someone who lived in the middle class would have so they wouldn’t stand out. Ryan, Michael, and Ray were in the first one, and Gavin, Jack, and Geoff were in the second. Two cars had been picked just in case something ever went wrong.

_But it did take them awhile to figure out where they were going._

The safehouse they had chosen to take up residence in was far from the life of luxury that came with their apartment downtown. This place had _barely_ two bedrooms, and it was only _barely_ because both mattresses were on the floor and bare from any sheets, and they would be lucky to fit two people on it. But it was a one story ranch style home sitting on the line where the suburbs met the country. Big backyard, that if it held a family, it would be perfect.

But age had brought the house to some disrepair, and most of the floorboards were creaky, the windows were dust-covered, and most of the appliances didn’t work in some way. At least it was still standing, that’s what mattered. The place did still have running, hot water, and electricity. Meaning, all of the groceries they had bought could come with them and be put away. Other than that, the place didn’t really have many supplies since the last time they used this place, it was just an overnight stay when it was just Jack and Geoff.

_Luckily, they had bought toilet paper from the store._

 

Michael had the worst attitude about the change.

“This is a shit-hole,” he started his rant, turning to Geoff. “There aren’t even enough beds, half the shit here doesn’t work, why are we staying here?”

“Because,” Geoff paused, and Michael was about to cut in with some snarky comment about how ‘because doesn’t work as a response, Geoff’, but Geoff continued on. “I haven’t used it in so long, I doubt Burnie even remembers this place.”

For once, Michael kept his mouth shut. He didn’t protest, or make some snarky remark; he just stalked down the hall that led to two bedrooms, a half full linen closet, and a bathroom.

Another reason why this place was shit was _also_ the amount of beds. Since two mattresses would probably barely fit five people- it meant that Gavin was going to sleep on the creaky, old, and uncomfortable as _hell_ couch. That also meant that five people would be split between two mattresses, and three would be forced to squish onto one of them since neither Geoff nor Jack could find an air mattress.

Gavin sat down on the couch, which creaked in loudly protest underneath him. He didn’t feel like he had fit in when they were at the apartment, but here… it felt a little different, in many ways. These guys were criminals, they were used to moving around, but Gavin had only lived in three houses his entire life. The first being his childhood home, the next being his apartment he lived in before moving to the states, and then the house in the suburbs he shared with Dan. That was it, he had only lived in three places his entire life.

He didn’t like moving.

So while Gavin sat on the couch, he watched as Ryan and Jack brought in the rest of their hastily packed bags, Geoff fill the kitchen with their groceries, and Ray and Michael disappear a bedroom. From the couch, the Brit could hear Geoff’s not-so-quiet grumbles about how shitty the kitchen was, which was connected to the living room through an arch-way.

It took an hour for the movement in the house to slow. Geoff and Jack had also disappeared into a bedroom, and Ryan went somewhere in the house, probably out the back door into the backyard.

Gavin had brought his bag in with him, and set it by his feet when he plopped onto the couch. The carpet below the bag looked dusty and stained with unknown substances. The Brit finally looked down at the bag, and just got it unzipped when he heard footsteps. He paused- but didn’t look up, or say anything.

“Sorry you have to sleep on the shit couch,” it was Ray. Gavin didn’t look up still, and still said nothing. He just let Ray talk, and Ray looked completely fine with it because the other kept talking after a few seconds of silence.

“And I guess I’m sorry,” his tone was apologetic, and that made Gavin confused because what could Ray have done that needed an apology?

“We said that we wouldn’t fight anymore… but Geoff kinda broke that right away… sorry.”

_Oh_ , that’s why.

Gavin didn’t say anything, and once again, Ray was okay with it.  The Puerto Rican slowly sat down next to Gavin, and like before, the couch creaked loudly. No one said anything for a little while, and that was okay. Completely okay.

_They just sat in silence_.

 

The sun had fallen, and the view of the sunset wasn’t as spectacular as it was from the apartment. But it didn’t bother Gavin, the view felt like home, where the sun dipped below the mountains and made them look purple against a hot pink and orange sky. It looked almost exactly like it had been from his home, and it comforted the Brit. Sure, it wasn’t his home at all, but it felt like it… it wasn’t bad at all.

But what _was_ bad was the looming threat of Cockbite, and how there was the possibility that Burns remembered that Geoff had a safe house here, or there was the possibility that the man already had eyes on them from the second they left the apartment…

It was dangerous; looming over all of their heads like dark storm clouds. But for one evening, it felt like nothing was over their heads at all. They ate dinner happily.

Gavin felt not intimidated anymore, because in this house, he could be more... _normal_. In the apartment, (where everything was top-of-the-line and expensive,) he could trip and probably break something that was more than his paycheck. But here, in this house he could trip and if he broke something, it wouldn’t be as bad because everything was already not functioning in some way.

The Brit felt comfortable, and that lead to actually talking during dinner.

Dinner was full of conversation, including Geoff’s ( _continued_ ) grumbles about how dinner could be a million times better if the kitchen wasn’t a piece of shit, and he actually had a fully-stocked kitchen. But the food was good anyway.

Even after dinner was over, and the plates had been cleared away and Jack got up to clean them, conversation continued. For the five criminals, this felt like every night. After dinner they’d stay up ‘till long after the sun down, talking, drinking, and joking around. It felt even better when Gavin joined them… and Geoff was able to get the Brit to drink a few beers.

What followed was _extremely_ interesting.

“Okay- okay,” Gavin’s accent got thicker while he drank. Luckily, he wasn’t too drunk, so his words could be deciphered. Michael groaned, which made Ray chuckle beside him.

“I have another one,” Gavin continued, and Michael was about to but in- but the Jersey man decided to wait. He’d ridicule the Brit _after_ the question was said. (Everyone thought it was funny that the Brit came up with ridiculous questions when drunk, so they just let him ask and try to answer them the best they could... It was really entertaining, and Ray stuck around after he realized the place didn’t have an xbox.)

“What if your legs didn’t know they were legs?” Gavin’s words were a little slurred, and he drunkenly shook a finger at Michael, who was sitting across from him at the table. There was an explosion of laugher and curses at that question.

“Your legs know they’re legs! And your legs don’t have a brain,” Michael hissed back in the best answer he had for such a stupid question. Across the table, Geoff was gripping the table hard as his chair looked like it was about to tip backwards with how hard he was laughing. Ryan and Ray were covering their mouths with their hands in attempts to muffle their laughter. Jack was by the sink, pausing his dish-washing to laugh.

“Your legs should know their legs you fuckin’ idiot,” Michael’s played up anger dissipated as he laughed, taking a swig of beer that Geoff had brought with them.

_The night was full of dumb questions._

It was sometime around one that they all said their goodnights and wandered off into their bedrooms. Gavin took to the couch, finding a blanket in the linen closet in the hall. It took a little bit of shaking to get the dust out, but other than that, it was fairly warm. Good- the heater here was utter shit.

Michael and Ray had disappeared to sleep, same with Geoff and Jack.

But Ryan stayed away from bed, he stood out on the porch since he had said ‘I can’t sleep, and I should stay on watch in case anything happens’. No one combatted that, figuring that the safehouse was too unfamiliar to Ryan, so he couldn’t sleep… and they would need someone to stay on watch anyway, since they weren’t in their apartment.

With Ryan out on the porch, and everyone else in bed, Gavin tried his best to fall asleep. He tossed and turned on the couch, annoyed with how uncomfortable it was, and how it creaked under his every move. But he did end up falling asleep eventually. Sadly, that sleep was full of nightmares, making the Brit toss and turn.

It was some dream about finding Dan in his bedroom, but Michael wasn’t there. Instead, Dan was sprawled across the bed, completely naked and lying in his own blood… but what made Gavin scream was Dan wasn’t in one piece. It was like a jig-saw puzzle, there were pieces and they were placed in the correct spot, and it came to the shape of a human body. Cut at the joints, leaving Dan’s body to look like one of those skeletons of the human body in science class where every joint was held together by wire.

In his dream, Gavin screamed and fell to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks.

In the real world, Gavin rolled over with tears streaming down his cheeks, and whimpered loudly. The front door was pushed open, and shut loudly like whoever opened it was in a rush.

“Gavin,” the words barely registered to the Brit. They floated into his dream, but sounded miles and miles away.

“ _Gavin_ ,” it was repeated, cutting through the nightmare. Gavin stirred, rolling over once more and letting out a whimper.

“Dan?” Gavin whimpered; his eyes clenched shut… almost like that would stop the tears. Almost like if he opened them, he would be home and everything would be back to normal. “A-A-Are you there?”

“Gavin…” it was Ryan who was whispering. “It’s just me.”

Gavin’s eyes carefully opened, the hazel and green eyes red and watery with tears. He whimpered again, and his arms shot out from the blanket, and curled around Ryan’s neck in the blink of an eye. The blond paused, confused and shocked. He wasn’t exactly one for hugs, but for the sake of comforting Gavin, he hesitantly curled his arms around the Brit’s waist.

“It’s okay… It was just a dream,” Ryan shifted his weight so he was on his knees in front of the couch. Gavin had wedged his head into where Ryan’s neck met his shoulder, and the man could feel tears on the Brit’s cheeks. Softly, he hushed the Brit, and started to rock a little. “It’s going to be okay…”

Gavin whimpered softly, the sound broken and painful. Despite Ryan being a powerful criminal who’s killed dozens, maybe even hundreds without feeling guilt, his heart ached for the Brit. Years ago, he’d been in the same position, and it pained him and brought up memories of the days before he wore the black skull mask.

But it takes a little under an hour for the Brit to calm and stop shaking like a leaf.

“Are you okay?” Ryan’s words were barely above a whisper, and there was no need to talk any louder.

“Yeah…” Gavin slowly uncoiled his arms from Ryan’s neck, but still kept his head resting on the man’s neck, only tilting his head so his cheek was resting on the wet spot he had left from his tears.

“Good…” Ryan thought about getting up, but he fought against it a second later, remembering the Brit asking them to promise to never leave him alone. Glancing around the dark living room, he noticed that the only light was the streetlight that was out on the street.

“Do you want me to sit with you?” Ryan asked after two minutes of silence, and Gavin only nodded.

Then they shifted their positions, so Ryan was up on the couch, and Gavin had his legs over the man’s lap, with his head still on the other’s shoulder. To an outsider, it looked like a couple cuddling in the middle of the night, but to the two of them, it was Ryan making sure Gavin wasn’t alone.

The blanket was sprawled across both of their laps, keeping them warm in the slightly chilly living room. Gavin had his eyes closed, but he was extremely awake; too scared about the nightmares to try and sleep again. But that wasn’t so bad, because at least he had company.

“Ryan…” Gavin finally spoke after ten minutes of sitting in silence. Ryan hummed, signaling that he heard the Brit without saying anything.

“Can you tell me a story?”

It sounded like Gavin was a small child who needed a bedtime story. Sure, Gavin didn’t mean for it to sound like that, but he hoped that talking would help keep him calm, and maybe help him drift into a calmer sleep.

“What do you want to hear?” Ryan questioned back, his icy blue eyes open and glancing down to the Brit who was across his lap. He hoped that if they stayed like this all night, the other won’t be too upset… But he could always tell them that he was comforting the Brit. They would probably understand.

“Anything,” Gavin’s one word response made Ryan think. There were a lot of stories he had, dozens about missions that almost went wrong, or even went totally wrong. Stories about heists, stories about the times before he was a criminal, and stories about what sparked him to be a criminal; the man had hundreds of stories. Picking one was near impossible.

But Gavin waited, he waited through the few long minutes it took for Ryan to decide something.

“I used to have a lover, before this whole mess.”

Ryan started, and Gavin nodded a little, signaling that he was listening.

“She was such a nice woman, so pretty and sweet.”

Ryan had picked this story for some random reason; maybe he picked it because it was about his a woman he thought was the love of his life… and how he lost her.

“I thought about proposing to her, because I could never imagine my life without her.”

Ryan’s voice started to fill with sadness, and Gavin was listening intently. The Brit had even found Ryan’s hand under the blanket and wound their fingers together.

“I had bought the ring, it didn’t have a diamond because she was afraid that if she ever lost it she’d lose the diamond… But I had bought it, and I had planned on proposing on the anniversary of the day we first met.”

Gavin gave Ryan a loving squeeze as the man’s voice was laced with sadness and depression.

“But I was an idiot, because I had hidden who I was to her. I didn’t tell her that I was a murderer… And I paid the price for it.”

Ryan had picked this story because of Dan. Dan had hidden away his true life, and he had paid the price for it.

“She was taken from me the day before I planned to propose. Someone had found who she was, and how she was my love. It was some ploy to mess with me- and it worked.”

Gavin’s eyes slowly opened, and the hazel-green eyes flickered up to watch Ryan’s face. The blond’s eyes were staring off into space as he spoke.

“I watched her get taken… and I’ve never seen here since… It was years ago too, and I’m convinced she’s gone… But I searched everywhere for her, and she’s the reason why I’m the Mad King, because I went crazy because I had lost her.”

Gavin watched as Ryan’s eyes grew glassy as the story brought back memories.

“I’ve gotten better, but I still miss her…”

Ryan’s eyes finally moved, meeting Gavin’s.

“But I have the guys to keep me occupied.”

If this was a different story, Gavin would be convinced that the five criminals had some sort of relationship going on, but it was his turn to do the comforting.

“That’s good…” The Brit finally spoke. “You’re better, and still getting better.”

Ryan cracked a weak smile, and watching the man smile made Gavin smile back.

They continued to talk for a few more hours, and it took up until the sun was starting to rise, and chase away the dark indigo skies for Gavin to drift into a peaceful sleep… and Ryan followed shortly after.

When Geoff and Michael drifted out of their rooms in search of breakfast, they didn’t say a thing when they laid eyes on the two men curled up together on the couch… they would get an explanation out of them soon.

They just went on with their morning, starting up a good breakfast that would feed them all. Hopefully, Gavin’s nightmares would go away soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY FUCK I DIDN’T MEAN FOR THIS CHAPTER TO GET OVER 3K!!!! LONGEST CHAPTEVER EVER, ARE YOU PROUD OF ME? I’m legit confused, I have no idea how it got this far… I kinda just wing’d writing like… most of the chapter since I had no idea how to end it. Like Ryan’s story? Didn’t have that written down as a plot point on my plotting word doc, I just wrote it down… but are you proud of me?!?! ‘Cause I am! But I hope you enjoyed probably the longest chapter out of this entire story!


	14. Interlude I- Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite half of Dan’s life consisting of lies, he was happy with Gavin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I was totally going to write this chapter from the perspective of the Cockbites… but I had absolutely NOTHING to write about without revealing something that’s going to be revealed later… so I’ve changed directions with this, and it’s a flashback to Dan/Gavin’s life. I’m sorry to say that this chapter will be very short, and it’s just an interlude for the week as I figure out where to go from here and move the plot along… But I hope you guys enjoy the flashback to Dan and Gavin’s life!

 

Dan had told his fiancé so many lies that he couldn’t remember half of the ones that have left his lips. He couldn’t remember the lie he told Gavin when he had come up with a cast on his wrist; he couldn’t remember calming down his lover using lies when he came home two days later than he said he would.

What he did remember was the lie that sparked everything, the lie of ‘ _I’ve got a job as a police officer in Los Santos!’_.

He remembered that lie… it started everything else.

Instead of telling his boyfriend that he’s broken his wrist while trying to run from a drug deal he had burst in to stop; instead of telling Gavin that he’d been gone two days longer than he hoped because things went wrong and he had to lay low, because instead of telling his lover the truth, he told lies.

Gavin ate them up like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.

_That’s what kept Dan from worrying about his boyfriend finding out._

 

Gavin wanted to talk to Dan, ask him why he was getting hurt so badly and why he came home late so often on days where there was nothing relating to criminal activity on the news.

The lie of ‘ _I was hanging out with the guys at work_ ’ that was used far too often stung Gavin straight to the core… It felt like Dan liked his co-workers more. No matter how often Dan said ‘ _I love you_ ’ or comforted him after a long day at work, he still felt a stinging pain when he heard those words.

“ _Why haven’t I ever met your coworkers?_ ” Gavin asked one night while he was cleaning up the remains of dinner. Dan had gone still in his chair at the kitchen table.

“ _You hang out with them so often… Yet I’ve never heard their names… or know anything about them,”_ Gavin had gone on, drying his hands on the dishtowel as he finished up drying the dishes.

This had only been one week before Dan’s untimely death, and neither of them was aware that someone was outside the house, watching as Gavin came up behind Dan and slung his arms over his fiancé’s shoulders, resting his chin on the other’s head.

“ _I-I… I don’t think you’d like them Gavin. They’re loud, drunk, and don’t take kindly to our relationship,”_ Dan had did his best to come up with a response. He could feel Gavin get tense.

“ _So they don’t even know you’re engaged?”_ Gavin had countered.

“ _No… They do… but they think it’s to a lass,”_ Dan tried to keep his voice calm and sound like he wasn’t lying. In fact, his coworkers _(his actual ones, not the coworkers he’s made up_ ) did know he was engaged and they always asked if they were ever going to meet his fiancé, but the answer was always no… because Dan wanted to _protect Gavin_.

“ _Oh…”_ Gavin slowly pulled his arms back, and he went back to the sink to start putting the dishes away.

“ _Oh come on B, don’t be like that,”_ Dan stood up from his chair and curled his arms around Gavin’s waist. With his chin resting on his shoulder, he lowered his voice. “ _We moved halfway across the world, I wouldn’t want to hate the job that uprooted us from England.”_

“ _I guess you’re right,”_ Gavin sighed through his nose, and he set a plate into the cabinet before turning in his fiancé’s arms. Dan’s chin went from Gavin’s shoulder to his head as the other rested his head on Dan’s chest.

“ _You don’t need to worry, I love you,_ ” Dan whispered, pressing a kiss into his fiancé’s fly-away hair.

“ _I love you too_ …” Gavin whispered back.

Most of their conversations about Dan’s work were lies. Sure, Dan sometimes told the truth, but it wasn’t the full truth. Some days, it was _almost_ the truth, where the truth was bent to make it sound ‘legal’ and hiding his true occupation as a mercenary.

Despite half of Dan’s life consisting of lies, he was happy with Gavin.

_And that’s all that really mattered._

Gavin sat in the safehouse, surrounded by the five criminals as he ate breakfast. While he ate, he thought about how Dan worded his sentences oddly whenever they spoke about the man’s work. Now, he realized how much the man was lying, and how half of their conversations were lies.

Despite knowing that Dan was gone forever, Gavin wished that the man could come back just so he could ask ‘ _why were you lying to me for years_?’.

Sadly, he couldn’t ask… so he just looked sadly down at his plate full of eggs, buttered toast, and bacon. A hand was set on his shoulder, snapping the Brit out of his thoughts. He looked up, and met the eyes of Jack.

“You okay?” The man asked softly, eyes soft and comforting.

Weakly, Gavin smiled. “Yeah.”

“You sure?” Jack persisted, not wanting the Brit to lie.

“Yeah, I’m sure… I was just thinking about the past,” the Brit took a bite of his food, and Jack smiled warmly.

“Good… Just remember that the past is the past,” the bearded man patted Gavin’s shoulder lightly before walking to the stove to refill his plate.

‘ _I know_ ,’ Gavin thought, his weak smile slowly getting wider and wider. He knew it was the past, and he knew there wasn’t anything he could do about it. So instead of dwelling in the past, he continued eating his breakfast, and joined in the conversation the five criminals were having around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… I totally wing’d writing the entire chapter… with was somewhere around 950 words… I know! It’s short as hell, but it was an interlude as I figure out what to do next, but I really hope you enjoyed the chapter… and as far as I know, this interlude really doesn’t have much to do with everything in the plot, it was just a little snapshot of Dan and Gavin’s lives together, and how Dan never really told the truth.
> 
> But other than that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	15. The B-Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin meets some of the Fake AH Crew’s workers…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve realized that since I’ve completely changed the entire plot of the story, there won’t be as much action, and instead, there’s a more drama. So there’s not really any action in this chapter, but there’s a few people that are introduced. I bet you already know who they are. But if this chapter is a little shitty I’m very sorry, I’m trying to write a chapter every weekend and on the day that I’m writing this, I feel very un-motivated since I got the news about Ray leaving RT, and I’ve just been super stressed out… so I hope this isn’t super shitty…
> 
> Also a note I forgot about in the last chapter: ALL INTERLUDES ARE FLASH BACKS TO GAVIN AND DAN’S LIFE. FROM HERE ON OUT, THERE WILL BE A FAIR AMOUNT OF INTERLUDES.
> 
> (and I’m sorry this is two days later than I hoped, I lost motivation on Saturday… then went out of town on Sunday and came back to no power in my house!)

Geoff had gotten a call in towards the end of breakfast. The tattooed man’s phone buzzed on the table, where it was resting, and the conversation they were sharing quieted, like the words were on a dimmer switch and someone had turned the switch down. They all watched as Geoff picked up the phone and put it to his ear.

It must’ve been someone they knew well, and not a business contact because Geoff didn’t excuse himself from the table like he normally would.

“Oh hey,” Geoff said after swallowing the food in his mouth. The man didn’t mention any name, making Ryan and Jack share a look that was somewhere between confusion and knowing, almost like they had a vague guess of who Geoff was talking to.

“Yeah,” there was a pause as the person on the other line spoke.

“We’re just eating breakfast,” Geoff took a sip of his coffee, keeping the mug in his hand as he waited for the person on the other end to finish speaking.

“Nah, we’re not planning on being busy today.”

The conversation sounded casual, so Michael figured it was nothing that he needed to be worried about. He just continued eating while everyone else had paused to listen for any hints Geoff could be dropping.

“Where do you want to meet up?”

Well- Geoff said they didn’t plan on being busy, but it sounded like he was making plans for the crew.

“Sounds good; we’ll head over their soon.”

There was another pause, and Gavin was getting a little confused. He wondered that if the crew was going somewhere if that meant he’d be pulled along. Did they trust him enough to stay alone in the safe house? Probably not; they _had_ cleared his phone and laptop completely and took them away from his house after the… _incident_.

“Yeah, I’ll see ya soon,” Geoff said his goodbyes before hanging up the phone. Taking another sip of his coffee, he set the phone back down on the table.

There was a few seconds of silence as all of them waited for an answer to a question that they hadn’t asked. It took Geoff a few seconds to answer, because he wanted to be a jerk as he took a long swig from his coffee.

“The B-Team wants to meet up to talk to us about our game-plans for dealing with the Cockbites,” Geoff explained, and even though everyone else got it, Gavin sat confused. He didn’t know a ‘B-Team’, and it wasn’t like the five criminals ever talked about ‘the B-Team in front of him’.

“So we’re meeting them at their headquarters,” Geoff added on after another sip of his coffee. The others nodded in a silent agreement as they all resumed eating. Gavin was still utterly confused, but his lingering shyness spiked up again and he didn’t ask. Hopefully he’d find out later on…

But breakfast came to a close, and all of the dishes were cleared and put into the sink. Gavin was told that he should get dressed because he was coming along, and other than that, Gavin heard no more words on ‘the B-Team’.

_But he got dressed and waited for the guys to be ready._

It was a frightening to be sitting in a car surrounded by five criminals that were highly wanted by the government, and it didn’t help that they had some sort of gun on them. Ray had a bright pink sniper rifle lying across his lap, Ryan and Michael had some sort of pistol in their jackets, and Jack and Geoff’s weapons were in their laps as they drove.

Gavin sat squished between Michael and Ray as Geoff, Jack, and Ryan sat up in front. The car was obviously not meant for six people; it was a very tight squeeze and as they drove off towards the city, Geoff said multiple times that he ‘ _totally wasn’t in Ryan’s lap_ , _we’re just sharing a seat’_. Michael had laughed that one off as the suburbs faded into the city.

Despite Gavin feeling extremely uncomfortable between two criminals, he said nothing as he watched the world fly by as Jack followed traffic laws and got on the highway.

_Gavin said not a single word the whole car ride._

If the Fake AH Crew’s main base was the apartment they had left days ago, then the B-Team’s headquarters looked like a shitty apartment on the edge of the city that was dirt cheap. But that was only an appearance.

Jack parked the car in an alley-way on the outskirts of the industrial district of town; right on the edge of where rundown houses and shady looking buildings bled into mostly empty warehouses and factories that looked like the main reason air pollution was getting worse.

Gavin was once again confused as the five criminals got out of the car. He followed, of course, but remained confused as he followed the five out of the alleyway and down the street. The street ended in a dead end that went right off into the bay the industrial sector of Los Santos was built on. The warehouses on this street looked empty and worn down, almost like they would collapse any day now; but the five criminals walked to the last warehouse on the left side of the street, stopping in front of a door.

Geoff reached towards the door, trying to open it. But the doorknob was locked, and the tattooed man rolled his eyes before slamming his fist on the metal door.

“Come on you fucks! I know you’re keeping it locked to piss me off!” Geoff called, looking up at the clear blue sky as he spoke.

It was a good ten seconds of Geoff slamming his fist on the door before the door swung open. On the other side stood a short-looking man with shortly cut dark brown hair and stubble covering his jaw.

“He _ee_ ey Geoff,” the man dragged out the ‘hey’ as he stood at the door. The man was obviously trying to make a joke that made everyone but Geoff laugh.

“Shut your mouth and move Jeremy,” Geoff crossed his arms over his chest, and the man, Jeremy, moved out of the way as a large and playful smile crossed his lips. Everyone went inside the warehouse, and Gavin stepped in with some hesitation.

Jeremy watched Gavin carefully as the Brit trailed behind the rest of them, and of course, Gavin felt the eyes on his back and shuddered a little.

But the warehouse was interesting.

The outside looked so rundown it looked like it was about to collapse, but the inside looked clean and as modern as the skyscrapers downtown. The rundown look was just a façade, probably there to make it look inconspicuous to outsiders. But other than the rundown look, the building inside looked modern with bright lights, clean, crack-free concrete floors, and there was even furniture all around the open warehouse.

There was a wall with some doors on the far end of the warehouse, but other than that, the warehouse was open space. There was two clusters of desks, and even in one corner of the warehouse there was a set-up that looked awfully similar to a hospital operating room. It had to be used for when there was injuries after jobs or heists.

Besides the medical set up, the wall of doors, and the two clusters of desks, there were a few beds opposite to the medical set-up and even a mini kitchen set up. It had been set up as a safe house before the B-Team moved in.

The five criminals crossed the warehouse to the two clusters of desks, where five people were standing there, four guys and one woman. The woman had somewhat long red hair and a smile on her lips; a some-what short blonde guy, and the other two both had brown hair, but one looked extremely thin and lanky and the other looked average height and had the build of someone who exercised regularly. The last man had glasses and hair so dark it looked black. They all looked like normal people, but given the situation, Gavin put the pieces together to figure out that these guys were just as bad as the Fake AH Crew.

“Hey,” the woman said with a smile, and she and Michael met eyes. They both smiled at each other before their eye contact broke. In Gavin’s eyes, they looked like they were very close friends, and he watched as they all waved and said their hellos to the five criminals he’s shared a house with for the past week or so.

“Alright,” Geoff’s words cut through the easy conversation they all had going, clasping his hands together as he waited for silence. Everyone knew their cues; quieting down to let Geoff speak. “So Gavin here doesn’t know you guys, so why don’t we introduce each other?”

The five strangers all looked at Gavin, who was a little outside of the circle they had formed. The Brit felt like curling up at the sight of eyes on him, and it felt more pressuring when half of the eyes were from people he didn’t know. The strangers were people who he’s never heard of or seen before, but all he knew is that they were powerful people. Power people, but not in the way like the president or politician, but powerful in the sense that they knew millions of ways to kill him with their bodies, or anything in this room.

“Well,” the short man, Jeremy, stepped forward. “I’m Jeremy, the guy that supplies this lovely crew with vehicles.” He waved a little, and didn’t look hurt that Gavin didn’t wave back.

“Okay, so we’re doing crew occupations, alright,” the lanky man next to Jeremy spoke up, shifting his weight as he spoke. “I’m Matt, the repair guy, for like the cars and stuff.”

The woman with red hair laughed a little at how awkward Matt looked and even sounded. “I’m Lindsay, and I give the guys information to actually do their jobs.”

Michael cut in with some snarky ‘hey!’, which made all of them chuckle. Well, all of them except for Gavin.

But the man with glasses spoke up next. “Kdin, and yeah I know, it’s missing letters, _very funny Geoff_ , but what Lindsay means as that we’re hacker-type people. We break into computers to get the information needed-”

“Okay, okay,” the blonde guy cut in. “We get it, we get it Kdin. But I’m Kerry, and that operating table over there is my business.”

Gavin shifted a little, looking out of the corner of his eyes at the medical set-up in the corner. He gave it a wary look, and hoped that it wouldn’t have to be used while he was around.

The last guy who had yet to be introduced was the man with a smiling face and a slightly muscular build. “Caleb, and I’m the main guy for weapons around here.” He was the first person to hold out his hand for Gavin to shake. But the Brit only shied away, looking more and more like he was going to curl up into a ball or implode.

Caleb’s eyes, but not his smile, fell a little as he retracted his hand.

Geoff let out a little chuckle. “Okay, so now that we’re all acquainted, let’s get down to business.”

That phrase made both Kerry and Kdin start humming loudly, some song that made Geoff roll his eyes and groan dramatically.

“Okay you idiots, you’ve heard it a thousand times, stop laughing. But seriously, we aren’t like Mulan and we need to start working out our plans.”

“Alright, alright, boss,” Kdin held up his hands like he was surrendering, and turned towards one of the clusters of desks. He lowered his hands, starting to type something on one of the many keyboards. Just hitting a few keys made five monitors light up with what looked like camera feed.

“So we’ve got some planning to do…” Michael murmured from his spot next to Gavin, which made the Brit glance up at the man. He didn’t say anything, but watched as everyone moved to watch the monitors and listen to Kdin and Lindsay speak.

Gavin only watched as they talked about plans, and let the words turn to static. He could hear the voices, but not the words as they went in one ear and out the other. Unfortunately, this would take a long time…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, first, did you catch the Mulan reference? I hope you did! And I’m sorry if this is shit, I was unmotivated at the start, and then when I finished it I felt like shit and just wanted to wrap this chapter up… I hope it wasn’t too bad!


	16. Spark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The meeting with the B-Team comes to a close, and a spark ignites inside of Gavin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m incredibly sorry if this isn’t so good… It’s been a long week, because I’ve been stressed out, and I wrote this during Ray’s last week at RT so I’ve been/I was really upset over him leaving… But yeah, I tried my best.

The meeting with ‘the B-Team’ ran longer than all of them expected it to. It ran straight through noon and ended a little after three in the afternoon. In true Fake AH Crew fashion, the meeting didn’t stop until they were completely finished (Geoff always wanted their meetings to run long instead of having to meet more than once). But if the guys were hungry, they hid it well as they talked.

While they talked, Gavin sat in one of the desk chairs, at the second cluster of desks while the meeting was at the other cluster. He sat in the desk chair, practically twiddling his thumbs as he waited for the meeting to be over. Since he had nothing to do, he sat there, zoned out in his own little world. But he felt like a child that had been brought to their parents’ work place and forced to sit in on a meeting; sitting there off to the side being seen and not heard as he didn’t understand anything they were talking about.

He didn’t listen as they talked about having to restock their supplies, be on guard since they could be attacked any moment, and how they would need to be extra careful and be on watch nightly since they were out of the apartment, which had security cameras and alarms.  

Gavin pretty much zoned out, not listening as the Fake AH Crew met with their ‘behind the scenes’ crew about their plans for surviving, and hopefully, taking down the Cockbites.

_He didn’t listen to the conclusion they had decided on._

It was mid-afternoon when the meeting came to a close.

Seeing them break and walk away from the group of desks was a relief to Gavin, because he was hungry, bored, and a number of other things. Since Gavin was Gavin, being bored and hungry was a terrible, and quite possibly a dangerous, mix.

Kdin had disappeared into one of the doorways across the warehouse, which ended up being the kitchen/break room of the place, to throw a few pizzas in the oven for their late-lunch-early-dinner (They would usually order in a pizza, but ordering to their warehouse would give away their position). But as Kdin disappeared into the kitchen, the professionalism in the room melted away like ice cream on a hot summer’s day; it melted into causal banter between friends/co-workers.

But while they were waiting for food, Caleb and Lindsay brought up something as they stood in a circle as they were talking.

“Does he know?” Caleb’s eyes drifted over to where Gavin, who was still sitting alone in the desk chair after everyone had migrated away from the group of desks.

Geoff and Jack looked over their shoulders, glancing at the Brit they had taken in a week or so ago. Luckily, the Brit couldn’t hear their conversation since Caleb had lowered his voice and even stepped closer to Geoff and Jack.

“Nah, I don’t think he knows too much,” Jack’s voice was full of sympathy. “I don’t even think he knows anything.”

“He just learned who his fiancé was,” Geoff added on to Jack’s statement. The tattooed man worded it carefully, as if mentioning names would ruin Gavin, if he could even hear the conversation… which he couldn’t. But there was also something in his tone that was undetectable, like he was trying to word his sentences carefully. If anyone caught on with Geoff’s tone of voice, none of them made any move to ask about it.

“Ouch,” Lindsay murmured, studying the Brit out of the corner of her eye. Gavin’s eyes were slightly foggy, like he was completely zoned out, and his lips were parted absent-mindedly. Compared to the ‘normal’ Gavin, the Brit was far from ‘normal Gavin’.

“What are you going to do about him?” Caleb asked another question, and those words left the five criminals silent. All throughout the meeting, they hadn’t heard a single idea on what to do about the Brit, and it honestly looked like Geoff or Jack, Ryan or Michael, or even Ray had any plan on what to do with their… _guest._

No one answered for a minute or two because they honestly had zero clue of what they were going to do. Would they keep Gavin, or give him a fake identity and push him back into the world? No one knew what to do; they only had the plan of keeping Gavin as a ‘ _guest_ ’.

“I don’t know,” Geoff finally spoke, his words exhaled out with a sigh, watching as Gavin’s slightly foggy, zoned out eyes blinked. Gavin looked like he was in his own little world. “We only planned on keeping him with us, since he brought to our attention that any chance he has at an even semi-normal life his trashed.”

The worlds fell heavily, leaving the group standing still and thinking silently, taking glances at the Brit out of the corner of their eyes.

The crew knew the power they possessed by ruling Los Santos, and they were very aware of how they could ruin people’s lives at one simple, seemingly tiny move. They were completely aware that they could ruin lives, ruin them by killing someone, or taking away the things they loved. They were fully aware that they could wreck the chances of people having ‘normal’ lives.

“Have you thought about teaching him something? Like how to protect himself?” Lindsay broke the silence, and they were all glad for it.

 But Geoff looked at Lindsay like she had purple skin with pink polka dots, and maybe an extra head. Jack just looked confused, and Ryan, Michael, and Ray looked intrigued by the idea. Instead of the woman laughing like she normally would have, she went on speaking.

“If he’s going to be thrown into this lifestyle, he should be able to protect himself at the very least,” she brought up a very good point.

“That’s not that bad of an idea,” Ryan finally piped up after not speaking for a good ten minutes. Their eyes went from Lindsay straight over to Ryan, who shrugged and smiled a little.

“I mean, we could teach him how to throw a punch, or shoot a gun, or something,” Ryan gave out some suggestions.

Michael nodded a little, agreeing with the blond. “I mean, we could teach him. It’s not like we do much outside of jobs… and since we’re out of the apartment we have some more free-time.”

The look of shock and surprise on Geoff’s face melted away to something thoughtful. The tattooed man was considering his options, and he figured out that teaching Gavin some form of self-defense at more pros than cons.

Finally, the tattooed man sighed and everyone cracked a smile when the man nodded.

“Alright, we’ll teach him something,” Geoff put on a slightly sleazy looking smirk as he crossed his arms. “We’ll figure that out within a day or two.”

Just as he had come to that decision, Kdin came out of the kitchen carrying three pizzas resting on cooling trays expertly in his arms.

_Gavin snapped out of his trance, and happily ate pizza with the guys._

The car ride back to the safe house was quiet.

The crew had stayed at the warehouse for an hour or two more before saying their goodbyes and made their way back to the car outside.

But the car ride was quiet. The only sounds were the car radio playing softly, the deep breathing of Michael and Ray, and the sounds of the car going over bumps in the road.  

Ryan, Jack, and Geoff were silent up front. Ray and Michael had fallen asleep, leaning up against each other for support. Luckily, Gavin had gotten the window seat, and his eyes were trained on the window, his forehead resting on the cool glass. Blinking slowly, he watched as streetlights lining the empty road lit up the car for a second or two at a time before going dark again for 30 seconds before they passed under another.

To him, the day had been long and boring, and he was just waiting to get back to the safe-house to sleep. From what Geoff and Ryan had been talking about when they got to the car, he had figured out that Ryan would camp out with him in the living room once again.

That made Gavin a little bit happier, because despite Ryan having a reputation for being heartless and cruel, he was calm and comforting when Gavin was having nightmares.

It took a little while longer to get to the safehouse, and Geoff picked up Ray and Jack picked up Michael before heading inside. Gavin watched as the two men carried the younger two inside, and thought about how odd the relationship between the five was.

His thoughts drifted back to what he had thought about days ago, when he started to see how the five interacted and behaved. Watching Geoff and Jack carry in Michael and Ray had only strengthened his idea that these five weren’t just friends.

A knock on the car window brought him back to reality. Looking up from his lap, he saw Ryan standing outside, waiting for him. When Gavin got out of the car, Ryan walked up the driveway with him. The man was standing close to Gavin, and held his hands at his side like he was trying to hold back from moving them. Gavin was a little confused, and almost missed Ryan’s words because of it.

“I hope today wasn’t too boring,” Ryan’s words had an apologetic tone to them. But Gavin shook his head.

“It’s okay, I’ve had worse days,” Gavin bit his lip for a second, hesitating a little when Ryan let Gavin enter the house first. “But thank you.”

Ryan’s eyebrows furrowed. “For what?”

“I don’t know,” Gavin responded truthfully as he looked directly into Ryan’s icy blue eyes. “But thank you.”

Ryan’s look of slight confusion melted away into a warm and comforting smile. “Well, you’re welcome then.”

The two smiled warmly at each other, and it the atmosphere changed subtlety; it changed like something had sparked in the air. But before Gavin or Ryan could catch the spark, there was a thumping coming from one of the bedrooms, and Geoff’s loud cackles started to echo through the house.

The spark between the two men disappeared, and Ryan closed the door behind him as he went off to the bedroom to find out what had happened.

Gavin stood in front of the doorway for a few seconds, his face falling as he thought about the spark he felt. It was gone now, the spark, but he felt like something in his relationship with Ryan was changing… Almost like Ryan’s feelings were changing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… remember a few chapters ago I said that relationships will take to the back burner? I totally fucking lied, because I’m going to start to push the relationship stuff.
> 
> Are you catching the love? Because it appears that Ryan’s starting to!


	17. Interlude II- Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How they fell head over heels with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interlude number two! Now this may be a little shitty because I wrote this while I was working a show choir show for my school and I was astronomically busy, so I couldn’t write a whole bunch. But I tried my best!
> 
> ALSO- I’M SORRY THIS IS A FEW DAYS LATE! I WAS OUT OF TOWN AND HAD NO INTERNET CONNECTION OR EVEN DATA CONNECTION ON MY PHONE! SO APOLOGIES- But also, my school year is done so now I’m on summer break! That means I’ll have more time to write and that hopefully means longer chapters! YAY!!!!

Gavin and Dan didn’t have the moment of clarity like they do in the movies.

They didn’t have that one moment where they realized how much they loved each other. Their ‘moment of clarity’ wasn’t a moment; it was drawn out over a period of weeks, possibly months.

But their thought-provoking, love declaration, ‘moment of clarity’ was their last year of high school when Dan was thinking about his future. He had planned to go off into the army for a while after high school, since he had yet to figure out a real plan with his future (his only plan was to get into law, and this was far before he realized what side of the law he wanted to be on).

But it happened in December, the start of the ‘moment of clarity’. His mother and father drilled into his head that he needed to start thinking about universities and career plans, and what he was going to do with his life. And as he sat on the idea of joining the army, he thought about Gavin greatly. He thought about how the bubbly Brit with bright green-and-hazel eyes was the one person from his school that he wanted to keep around.

That thought sparked more thoughts.

Thoughts like how bearable it would be to not have Gavin in his life, or how he could somehow find a way to fit the other into his plans in life. He even thought about his relationship with the other Brit, and how close they’ve gotten over the years (Dan even thought about the promise they had made years ago, when they were kids. They had promised that no matter what, they’d stay by each other’s side forever… and this was long before they thought about staying together romantically and not platonically).

From an outsider’s perspective, it looked like the two men were lovers, sitting on each other’s laps while they played video games in the middle of the night, went out to dinner some days when their parents were unbearable; they looked like a true couple.

It took him a month of sitting on that idea to realize just how much Gavin meant to him, and how his heart picked up speed when he saw the other Brit.

Dan realized just how much he loved Gavin, and he hoped to tell the other one day… but the thought of rejection from the only person that truly cared about him was too terrifying. He kept it to himself until the end of the year, when he felt like it was truly the time.

He kept it to himself until graduation, and when Gavin was holding his diploma next to him in the car while they were on their way back to the Free household; Dan really found the right time to tell Gavin.

Gavin’s mother parked the car in the driveway, and she got out, going ahead to unlock the door for the two graduates. She stood on the porch, fumbling around in her purse for the house keys while her son and his best friend walked up the driveway.

Gavin didn’t see it coming- he squealed when he got picked up, and squirmed in Dan’s arms. His mother looked over her shoulder, lips turning up into a knowing smile.

(Dan had asked her a week ago to see if it was okay that he was in a romantic relationship with Gavin… and she had said yes, that it was okay, and that Gavin loved him back- the bubbly Brit just didn’t know it yet.)

Dan laughed a little at Gavin squirming and squeals, but cut off the squeals and squawks by leaning forward and connecting their lips. Gavin calmed instantly, and it took two seconds of astonishment before he was kissing back, throwing his arms over Dan’s shoulders and kissing back with full force.

Gavin had finally put a name to the feelings he’s suppressed for months now, and when Dan parted to breath, Gavin’s chest heaved in breaths as he opened his eyes. Their eyes met, and synchronized smiles crossed their faces.

After months of suppressing feelings and telling themselves that it would never happen, the two had finally reached a picturesque moment of clarity…

_It just took a while to reach it…_

A knock on the bathroom door pulled Gavin out of his thoughts.

He had been standing in the shower for a while; so long that the water had gone cold and all of the filth from the past few days swirled down the drain.

But the knock on the door made Gavin look up from the tile wall and to shower curtain.

“You still alive in there?” Michael’s words carried through the door, and luckily his tone was easily a joking tone. It could’ve been taken as something else if it was said with the wrong connotations.

“Yeah,” Gavin called back after a few seconds of silence.

“Well hurry up in there, I’ve gotta take a piss and this is the only bathroom,” Michael called, and he waited for a few seconds for Gavin to respond. But when there wasn’t one, he turned and started to walk off down the hallway.

Gavin finally realized that the water had gone cold, and he turned it off before drawing the curtain back. After standing in cold water for over ten minutes, the chilliness of the room didn’t really bother him as he reached for the towel Jack had left for him on the closed toilet seat.

The Brit wrapped it around him, and thought about the sadness and grief that had washed over him, just like the water in the shower, when he thought about the first kiss he and Dan had shared years ago.

A frown slowly crossed his lips as he wiped away the water droplets. He knew that it would pass, and some day he would be able to think about Dan without his eyes burning with tears.

But for now, he’d deal with the possibly tear-provoking thoughts of his relationship with Dan.

So instead of standing in the bathroom and letting the tears start falling, he opened the bathroom door and called to Michael saying that he could use the bathroom now.

His frown turned into a weak smile when the man sprinted down the hallway and pushed past him harshly to go to the bathroom. Gavin watched the door slam behind him, and he turned, going into an empty bedroom to change into sweats and a hoodie before joining everyone else out in the living room; where it felt domestic and normal.

( _Because he hoped that someday life would feel normal again._ )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOh more snapshots of Dan and Gavin’s life… wasn’t that sweet? But I’m actually surprised with some of the language/wording I used, because it doesn’t really sound like my normal style? (like I have one though, it changes every time I write something!) but whatever- I hope you enjoyed!


	18. Bottling It Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He thought he could bottle things up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I actually had over four pages of this planned out in my notebook… So I hope it’s good then. But I’ve totally said that the plot is going to start to pick up, but this time I’m extremely serious. This is really where the main drama starts- despite it being chapter 18…

Geoff was acting… _strange_ , and that was to say the least.

The tattooed man stood with his back resting on the wall of their warehouse. He was watching as Lindsay taught Gavin the basics of hand-to-hand combat; which was for now just stances and making sure he was balanced.

Jack was by Geoff’s side, arms by his side while Geoff’s were crossed. The bearded man took sly glances at the other man out of the corner of his eyes every so often, getting more and more worried. His boss was slowly getting more statue like, shoulders tense and jaw clenched, and a look in his eye that said words that hadn’t been spoken.

The look made it seem like a war was going on inside of the man’s head, and the Gent couldn’t pick a side. So instead of coming to decision, he stood there, silently thinking everything over. Of course, that made Jack worried; like it always did when Geoff bottled it up instead of talking about it.

But only fifteen feet away, Gavin was picking up Lindsay’s lesson easily. He had his stance down already, since Lindsay figured it was best to learn how to defend himself before learning how to attack. Lindsay was actually really surprised with how fast this was going- since she expected Gavin to be shy at learning self-defense… but the Brit was overjoyed with learning it, because it gave him something to do. Something other than moping around the safehouse, and gave him a distraction…

( _It also helped him feel like he fit in with the five criminals, and make it feel like he was one of them.)_

When Gavin successfully dodged Lindsay’s punch, and then returned it by almost twisting her wrist to throw her off balance, he let out a cry of triumph, thrusting his fists in the air as he jumped a little. Lindsay laughed, but held her wrist close to her because despite Gavin seeming lanky and uncoordinated, his countermove was actually somewhat painful.

Both were unaware of Geoff’s statue-like look and Jack’s worried expression, and instead shared a high-five before repeating the move to make sure Gavin had it down. After another successful dodge from Gavin, the Brit laughed, and his smile looked like he was the embodiment of the sun.

“Jesus Gavin!” Lindsay smiled brightly, shaking out her wrist to get rid of the pain. “You’re really god at this!”

Gavin took the compliment well and thrusted his hands up into the air again. “Yes!” He let out another cry of triumph. The smile on Gavin’s lips made Jack’s worried expression faded away into a smile. This was the happiest Gavin has been in the few weeks he’s been staying with the Fake AH Crew; it was a complete 180 of what Gavin had been only days ago when they arrived at the safehouse.

The Brit’s laughs echoed around the large space of the warehouse…

_And for once, the echoes weren’t sobs._

Michael, Ryan, and Ray had gone out on another shopping trip since the last time they went, they barely got enough food to keep them satisfied for a week… Luckily, this trip went way better than the last one- and they didn’t need to escape Burns and his crew.

So when the trio arrived at the warehouse, it was time to leave for the day.

Gavin had just started on learning how to throw a proper punch, Jack worry slipped away into the back of his mind as he watched Gavin learn and bounce around happily when he succeeded, and Geoff was the only one without a smile when the three climbed into the car.

Instantly, the Brit launched into talking about how good he was at learning hand-to-hand combat, and Michael and Ray laughed along with the Brit. With how bubbly Gavin was being, he felt like things were almost normal… _almost._

(Even Ryan cracked a smile, not wearing his mask for their shopping trip.)

Geoff was the only one without a smile when they arrived to the warehouse, and instead of Jack being worried, it was Ryan. The blond had started to notice how Geoff’s knuckles turned white with how hard the man was clenching his fists. Slowly, the smile faded from Ryan’s lips as he watched Geoff get more and more tense the closer they got to the safehouse.

But to keep up appearances, Ryan kept smiling and finally tuned into the conversation going on in the backseat between the three lads. His plan was to ask Geoff about what he was thinking when they got to the warehouse… and he’d to it in private just in case this ended up in a serious argument ( _He really didn’t want to ruin the good mood everyone was in after a stressful few weeks)_

And without even having to ask, Ryan got lucky when they got to the safehouse.

Gavin left to take a shower to get rid of the sweat from the day’s hard work, Michael and Ray disappeared into one of the bedrooms, and Jack into the other bedroom, and that left Geoff alone in the kitchen.

It took a minute for Geoff to figure out there was someone in the room, and the tattooed gent turned around slowly to look at who it was.

Standing in the doorway to the kitchen, Ryan held his mask in his hands.  Fingers ran over the small curves and ridges of his mask, like he was mapping out the feel of the black skull mask without looking. The smile that used to be on Ryan’s lips was long gone, and it was replaced with a blank look, no expression what-so-ever.

This was the set-up to a perfect movie trope; the heroes were going to have a serious discussion about their plans to take down the enemy, or argue about their ‘team’ and how it could fall apart with one wrong move.

God, Ryan just loved to follow the tropes; he sighed as he paused his fingers against the mask he wore daily, and slowly he lifted his eyes to meet Geoff’s. Geoff’s eyes looked exhausted, making the normally sleepy blue eyes look even more sleepy and sluggish.

“What’s up with the tense knuckles and furious eyes?” Ryan finally spoke after a minute or so of silence. The shower was the only noise in the air while Geoff was silent.

It took another minute for Geoff to come up with an answer; a poor excuse of an answer.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“ _Bull shit_ ,” Ryan’s words came out as a hiss through clenched teeth. “That’s a lie and you know it.”

Geoff visibly cringed. “No, nothing is wrong.”

“You are such a fucking _liar_ ,” Ryan shot back. “You look like a warzone Geoff.”

“I…” that was all that Geoff could say. He was at a loss for words.

“I know that all of us have a bad habit of bottling things up and expecting them to go away,” Ryan’s voice was calmer, but it was tense like he was restraining something. “But now is not the time to be bottling it up and expecting us to not notice.”

Geoff looked at Ryan with eyes filled with guilt, but he still said nothing as Ryan stepped forward, setting his mask on the kitchen table.

“Geoff…” Ryan sighed through his nose, only a foot in front of the other now. “If you believe that this is something for just you to deal with, then you’re wrong…”

The blond sounded defeated now, and it started to pluck at Geoff’s heart-strings.

“Whatever it is, you can tell us… If it’s an issue, we’ll take care of it together…” Ryan’s hand twitched, and Geoff’s statue-like stance was broken. The tattooed gent slid his hand into Ryan’s, lacing their fingers together and squeezing a little.

Carefully, Geoff leaned forward, capturing their lips together in a chaste kiss. Ryan’s empty hand rose to the other’s cheek, and he kissed back with the same light force. After a few seconds, the kiss broke and they both slowly opened their eyes, making a loving eye contact.

The grief melted, and Geoff’s eyes just looked tired, like he hadn’t slept the night before.

“Geoff…” Ryan whispered, not needing to raise his voice any higher than a low whisper. “What’s seriously wrong?”

Geoff sighed this time, just barely shaking his head. “I’m sorry… But I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on… and until I figure that out, I can’t tell you.”

Ryan closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to keep from yelling. “That’s okay… Just tell me when you know, okay?”

“Okay,” Geoff agreed.

“Good,” Ryan’s words were light and airy as he exhaled. “I don’t want you bottling it up.”

“I won’t,” Geoff knew that was a lie, he was bottling it up right now. He’d already come to a conclusion, but he didn’t know how to break it to the ones he… _loved_.

“Good,” Ryan repeated, taking the initiative this time and catching Geoff’s lips with his own. Geoff kissed back, even though he knew that the lies he’d spoken would ruin him later… but for now, he just wanted to protect what he had.

He wanted to protect the love between all of them, and he didn’t want to break all of their hearts with everything he’s done.

If he broke the hearts of his… _lovers_ , then he didn’t know what he’d do.

_So he kept his damn mouth shut_.

 

When Ryan came out of the kitchen, Gavin was sitting on the couch, along with Michael. The two were watching TV, Gavin’s legs sprawled across the other’s lap. For once, Michael appeared to not care about having someone sprawled across his lap, and instead of a blank face he usually wore, there was a smile. They were talking about something that Ryan didn’t know- he had come in too late into the conversation to find out.

“Ryan!” Gavin cried, making grabby-hands for the gent. “Come join us! Ray’s taking a shower so he left me without a pillow.”

The Brit looked like a pouty toddler, and despite the conversation he just had, he smiled. “Sure, scoot over for a bit.”

Ryan plopped onto the couch, and instantly Gavin laid his head in Ryan’s lap. It was comfortable for the both of them, surprisingly. Michael couldn’t help it, he laughed when Ryan rolled his eyes at Gavin squirming around to get comfortable.

When the squirming stopped, Ryan let out a chuckle as Gavin sighed happily.

“Comfortable?” Ryan’s words were teasing, and Michael laughed.

“Yeah,” Gavin beamed up to Ryan, eyes locking for a few seconds before the Brit looked back at the TV. On the TV was some show Ryan knew, but couldn’t place a name to it. It probably something that was on late at night and Ryan only kept it on as background noise on the nights he couldn’t sleep.

But as the two lads watched the screen, the conversation he had with Geoff came back to him. The tattooed man was bottling up his thoughts, and while Ryan did it often, it was never good... and the timing was horrible. With them out of their apartment, with a bubbly Brit they took in after killing his fiancé, and a powerhouse of a crew after them, now was not the time to be hiding things…

_No matter how painful it was_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, doesn’t it make you want to know what Geoff’s thinking? Well ya know- you’ll learn that soon!! But the plot is picking up speed quickly, and aot6 is coming soon!!


	19. What Geoff Had to Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s a long week, and everyone knows that something’s up with Geoff… and they finally call him out on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be fun, and that’s all I want to say because the rest is spoilers...

It had been a long week, and everybody in the house knew that Geoff was acting strange.

_Something was on the man’s mind, and it was so blaringly obvious._

Michael had first noticed Geoff’s strange attitude when he asked Geoff if the man was up for joining him in one of the beds that night, and Geoff gave a haunted look as a response. The smile on Michael’s lips faded when he saw Geoff’s eyes, and it was like the Jersey man had deflated like a balloon losing air.

“You okay Geoff?” Michael’s head tilted to the side; worry filling his words.

“I’m fine,” was Geoff’s response.

_Fine_ ,

They knew the meaning of that word. Fine was always used as a cover, and whoever said it was never _fine_. They were hiding something; something that was important.

But Michael didn’t push any harder; he simply turned around and went into one of the bedrooms, where Ray was laying on the bed. And Ray then noticed when Michael told him what he saw in Geoff’s eyes; the haunted look. From then on, all Ray could think about was Geoff, and whenever he laid eyes on his boss, he saw guilt.

Jack and Ryan had already noticed Geoff’s faded and guilty expression and how he barely slept.

Gavin was the last to notice, of course. The Brit had woken up in the middle of the night, his throat dry as a desert and his stomach rumbling. Slowly, he moved away from Ryan ( _who had taken on the duty of staying with Gavin at night_ ), and padded his way into the kitchen.

He jumped ( _and gasped_ ) a little when he realized that Geoff was sitting at the kitchen table; nursing a bottle of something amber colored in the room that was only illuminated by the moon-light coming in through the window.

“Geoff?” Gavin’s voice was barely a whisper, and the man didn’t respond. He heard the Brit, but the words barely made a dent on him. It was like he was in a trance.

“Geoff…?” Gavin took a few steps forward, carefully raising a hand to rest it on the other’s; which was lying still and open-palmed on the table.

“What are you doing up?” Gavin’s eyebrows furrowed; head tilting to the side like a young child curious for answers to his never-ending questions.

Lazily, Geoff blinked, lifting his eyes to meet Gavin’s. The only expression in his eyes was pure exhaustion, and Gavin’s eyes felt watery for some reason. Maybe it was just how empty the tattooed man’s eyes looked, or maybe it was simply something else he couldn’t figure out.

“A-Are you okay?” The Brit couldn’t help the stuttering, and Geoff sighed softly, swirling the amber-liquid in his glass before taking a sip.

“No,” Geoff was blunt as he basically dropped the glass back onto the table. The _thonk_ the glass made when it hit the table roughly echoed in the dark room. A few drops of liquid amber tipped over the edge of the glass; landing on the table. But neither of them made a move to wipe it away.

“I… Is there anything I can do?”

“No.”

Geoff was unhelpful, and his eyes slowly fell back to the amber liquid in his glass. Gavin’s stomach rumbled again, and after a minute or so of dead silence, Gavin finally moved away. He got his glass of water, and took it back to the living room. It took him awhile to fall asleep again, even though he was curled up in Ryan’s arms.

By morning, everyone knew something was up with Geoff.

_They knew he was hiding something_.

 

It took three long days before Ryan finally had enough of Geoff’s moping around with such a haunted expression.

It was during dinner three days after Gavin figured out that Geoff couldn’t sleep because of whatever was putting weight on his shoulders. It was silent in the kitchen, everyone too tense and stress-filled to bother with conversation. Only the sounds in the room was cups being set on the table and silverware softly clinking against the plates, and even the sound of the occasional car passing by outside.

_Finally_ , Ryan had had enough.

He dropped his fork onto the plate; loud enough that it got everyone’s attention- even Geoff’s. With a worried expression, Gavin and Ray watched as Ryan glared at the tattooed man sitting across from him.

“What the fuck is your _problem_?” Ryan hissed, clenching his jaw. Everyone had stopped eating, frozen in their seats with eyes on Ryan. Sure, everyone was expecting one of them to blow up and yell at Geoff, but they didn’t expect it while eating dinner.

When Geoff tried to look confused, Ryan scoffed.

“Don’t try and look confused Geoff,” Ryan grit his teeth. “You’ve been moping around for the past _week._ Acting like the weight of the world is on your shoulders; so don’t give me a confused look now. You have to be an _idiot_ to expect us to not notice.”

 Jack felt the need to sit on his hands as he watched Geoff’s expression change. All he wanted to do was put hands on Geoff’s shoulder and ask him about what was going on- but for now, he willed himself to not move an inch.

“I-I…” Geoff stuttered out, opening his mouth and closing it like a fish out of water.

No one believed the act Geoff was putting on now; they had all taken Ryan’s side long ago without even saying a word.

“I… I don’t know how to word it,” Geoff was still trying to defend himself, but holy _shit_ it wasn’t working one bit. They all knew it was a lie; the five men were all staring at him with varying looks of guilt or knowing.

Ryan’s normally icy-blue eyes were enraged. Michael was looking slightly guilty, and was taking glances down to his plate. Jack was biting his lip and trying to not speak up. Ray was just watching the scene unfold, and wished that whatever was on Geoff’s mind wasn’t as bad as the man was making it seem. Gavin was sitting on Geoff’s right, and he looked like he wanted to curl up into a ball; exactly like he had been on the first day he stayed with the criminals all those weeks ago.

They were all aware, but all of them at some sort of hesitance to speak up. Well, everyone but Ryan had hesitance.

The blond had never really had thought twice and hesitated before doing something; he always dove right in and worried about it afterwards. Today, at their kitchen table, Ryan had absolutely zero hesitance about calling Geoff out on his bullshit.

“What a fucking tragedy,” Ryan rolled his eyes, sounding completely sarcastic. “Well come up with it quickly; I’m not gonna wait around for you to figure out how to sugar-coat it.”

Geoff looked almost... heartbroken. But Ryan didn’t pause and apologize. No, he kept going on, like a steamroller.

“You gave me that excuse already, and I was patient. But _everyone_ is done with your shit.”

The four’s expressions faded away; looking more and more guilty as Ryan told the truth.

“So I fucking _dare you_ to tell me a lie; I dare you to lie to me when you already know what to say,” Ryan spat the words out like poison in his mouth.

“So go on,” Ryan prompted Geoff rudely. “Stop being a little bitch and _speak_.”

It’s silent for what feels like forever. All eyes are watching Geoff expectantly. The tattooed man is sitting there, looking downcast ( _to say the very least_ ) as he gathers up courage to speak.

But it’s like an internal war- he can’t lie now. They will pick up on it right away, but if he does speak… He could tear them apart. He could speak and appease Ryan’s anger- but at what cost?

The peace they’ve come to now will be ruined. The peace of Gavin being able to be comfortable around them, the peace of not being found by Burnie’s crew, the peace of having time to themselves; the peace would be ruined by one simple sentence.

One simple sentence that was more of a complex confession…

It was an internal war for Geoff, but with five pairs of eyes watching him expectantly, he finally let his walls drop. He cracked, in a way, under the pressure of their gazes.

“I… I gave you orders to kill Gruchy… and when I said… that I…” Geoff was stumbling over his words. By now, the food sitting on their plates were completely forgotten, and dinner was completely forgotten. It felt more like a crew meeting than a meal.

And as Geoff slowly spoke, Gavin’s stomach started to twist into knots- and talking about his dead fiancé was making it worse. While the Brit appeared to be better, bringing up Dan always made his eyes burn with tears and his stomach twist into knots.

“That I… forgot who he worked with… I really knew who he worked for,” Geoff cringed when Michael’s guilt turned into anger and his glaring eyes had the heat of a thousand suns. He jumped when the New Jersey man slammed a clenched fist into the table. Everything on the table shook a little, and both Gavin and Ray jumped in their seats.

“Are you fucking _serious_?” Michael hissed, looking like he was one wrong word from exploding like a bomb… like a ticking time bomb.

Geoff didn’t need to say a word, his face showed it all. Grim and dark, even full of guilt because of the actions he’s done and made them all do.

There’s a long silence as everybody processes the news.

Ryan is still looking enraged, same with Michael. Jack just looks at Geoff with a look that says ‘how _could_ you?’. Ray’s face is like a blank slate, no negative or positive emotion; just a blank expression and empty eyes as he thought about the words that he’s just heard.

Gavin looked utterly heartbroken. His lips parted slightly like he was going to say something- but the words weren’t coming. Slowly, tears made his eyes look glassy, and he thought he was done with the tears… but he was wrong. It was like a dam broke, because the second one tear started to fall, it looked like a waterfall.

Geoff’s eyes lifted from his plate, and slowly and carefully he looked at all of their expressions; starting with Jack and sweeping across all of them. With each new face, his guilt doubled, and by the time he saw the tears on Gavin’s cheeks, he felt like the weight of the world- no, the weight of the _universe_ \- had been put on his shoulders.

“G-Gav,” Geoff’s hand shook as he reached for the Brit. But Gavin was having none of it; he shook and practically slapped Geoff’s hands away.

“No! You need to explain why you did this- and maybe then I’ll think about _ever_ forgiving you!” Gavin let out a broken cry.

Just when they thought Gavin was feeling better…

But Geoff looked shell-shocked. He couldn’t come up with a single word, and now they were all watching him expectantly, waiting for an answer to his actions.

“There… There was some grudges…” It took a while for Geoff to come up with something. But it wasn’t enough.

“ _Grudges?_ ” Jack finally spoke, and the words came out like poison on his tongue. “You did this because of a _grudge_?”

“It was a bad one,” Geoff spoke such simple words. Out of context, they were so simplistic and held almost no meaning, but with guilt lacing every syllable and such a grim expression, they held incredible amounts of meaning.

“Well?” Gavin’s voice was almost watery as he sniffled, not even bothering to wipe away the steady stream of tears. “I want to know why Dan’s dead and gone.”

Ray’s expression started to come back, and slowly, the Puerto Rican slid his hand over Gavin’s shaking one; in hopes of calming down the Brit, who looked up at Ray with teary, glassy eyes.

Geoff only looked at Gavin and the tear tracks on his cheeks, blinking slowly before parting his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know… I don’t ever really make cliff-hangers, but I decided, why not? HAVE FUN WAITING TILL NEXT WEEK!!! HAAAAAAAAAAA! (But yeah, after Geoff’s explanation, EVERYTHING will change!)


	20. Complex Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geoff finishes his confession…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man- Oh loooord this is a roller-coaster of angst and sadness. I’m not even sorry? Like- this was coming and I’ve been dropping warning hints for a looong time, so you all should’ve known this was coming.

Geoff only looked at Gavin and the tear tracks on his cheeks, blinking slowly before parting his lips.

All of them were waiting for an answer, and as Geoff’s lips parted, he looked like he was going to regret this. But then again, whatever he was about to say, it was his own fault. His own orders, his own grudges… _grudges_ , that’s why they were in this mess.

Because of some stupid grudge that none of them was aware of.

“I…” Geoff sighed, scrubbing the heels of his palms over his eyes roughly. “There’s some…”

He kept stuttering over his words, struggling to get a complete a full sentence. And under the five pairs of eyes, Geoff felt cornered.

“He… He got in the way,” Geoff finally got out a full sentence, and Gavin’s jaw dropped.

“He got in the _way_? That was the only reason?” Obviously, Gavin wasn’t in the criminal business of Los Santos, and didn’t know how everything worked… and what happened to you if you got in the way.

“You stay in this business long enough, you learn to not step out of line,” Ray finally spoke up, but his words were flat and emotionless. It looked like the Puerto Rican was wearing a mask to hide his emotions; a blank face and empty looking eyes. Gavin looked horrified, but he closed his mouth and decided that he didn’t want to say another word.

_But Geoff continued on._

“He got in the way…” Geoff trailed off, running a hand through his hair nervously.

“Michael,” Geoff’s eyes wandered over to the Jersey man. Their eyes met, and then Geoff continued. “Remember when we were going to go blow up that warehouse, and we found out that the place was already burning when we arrived?”

Slowly, Michael nodded with an unpleasant look. He remembered that day, when they arrived at some small crew’s warehouse with plans to burn the place to the ground to wipe them off the face of the earth. But when they arrived, the place was already burning, half the place collapsed and the other half had flames crawling up the walls. Someone had beaten them to it.

“And Ray,” Geoff’s eyes went to Ray. “Remember when you had to take out that politician and when you got there he was already dead?”

Ray remembered that night easily. He had come up to the house, and only spent a minute scoping it out before he discovered the man already lying dead in the kitchen, surrounded by bloody footprints. He’d gotten so pissed off that his kill was ruined, and then got even more pissed off when the idiot who took his hit didn’t even clean up properly. So hesitantly, Ray nodded.

“Ryan,” Geoff was sweeping his eyes across every one of his crew members, and Ryan was just next in line. “We were going to rob that convenience store, and the clerk was already dead and the money was gone when we got there?”

Ryan’s fist clenched at the thought of that day. That convenience store was the last in the line of stores they robbed for a heist, and arriving to find the money gone messed up the flow of the heist. Because of that, they almost got shot by cops… and Ryan barely saved them all from getting killed.

“Jack,” Geoff was at the last person, and Jack didn’t even want to meet Geoff’s eyes. “Me and you were going to go and make a deal with this small crew, and when we got there they were already done and gone.”

Jack bit his lip, and as much as he hated it, he nodded. He remembered it too, and Geoff had gotten pissed off and that’s what led them to burning ( _or at least attempting to_ ) that warehouse that Geoff mentioned to Michael.

Everyone had gone down a pseudo memory lane, and now they were just wondering where Geoff was going with this whole conversation.

“Well… The guy who ruined our jobs was him… Dan…”

This was the first time Geoff’s ever said his first name, and Gavin sniffled. The Brit wiped his nose on the back of his hand and looked down at the table with tear-filled eyes. Since Gavin had joined them, the five criminals, he’s never heard any one of them say his dead fiancé’s first name. It was always his last name, making it sound so professional. But this didn’t sound professional, it sounded like Geoff _knew_ him.

And he didn’t.

But Gavin didn’t protest, he only bit his lip as he shook his head lightly. The Brit didn’t want to believe any of this. He just wanted his old life back… To him, the only good thing about this was that he now knew why his fiancé was dead.

“And you know what happens when people get in the way…” Geoff trailed off, and there was no need to finish that sentence. They all knew the meaning, and even if it hurt, they nodded.

_It was quiet for a long time after that._

Jack had stopped speaking, and he looked down at his lap with empty eyes. The man was thinking this entire thing over, and how he had trusted Geoff to always lead them. Now while they didn’t do good things for the world, he at least expected Geoff to do the best he could… but this was just a whole different story. This was something they’ve never done. When they kill someone, that was it; it was said and done and there was no going back.

But this was something different. They’ve never had to deal with the aftermath. They’ve never had to deal with the grieving fiancé and a powerful crew breathing down their necks. They never dealt with the aftermath… and Jack felt so unbelievably bad for doing this to Gavin.

Michael, though, was still remembering the orders he was given all those weeks ago; the orders to watch the house. It was falling together now, why he was told to do that… and it made him sad because he saw when Dan came home, and how Gavin always fretted over how injured Dan was. But Dan always brushed Gavin off…

And Michael watched it day after day; he watched as Gavin worried over his fiancé and when his fiancé brushed him off or lied, Gavin tried his best to smile and be happy… but the smile quite made it to his eyes.

Ray had some sort of expression now. He was shaking his head softly, and remembered the nights when Geoff would be yelling at people through his phone because a job had gone wrong. He remembered how stressed Geoff was only days before he gave the orders that got them in this mess. The tattooed man was barely sleeping, and was locking himself in his office. When he gave the orders and debriefed them on this…

He thought Geoff was acting strange, but simply brushed it off then… and it hurt now. It hurt because Geoff had been lying to them for so long, and lied to them when they asked why they were doing this. Geoff had been speaking lies for _months_ now…

Ryan looked calm now, well, somewhat calm. His anger wasn’t at Geoff anymore; it was more directed at himself now. He was angry at himself for letting this happen. And while he appeared to be a heartless man to the public eye, it felt like his heart was being shredded into a thousand pieces. He let this happen, and didn’t tell Geoff to stop sooner.

Sure, he had no clue this would happen to all of them when Geoff first told them, and he had absolutely no idea that they’d have Gavin with them and the Cockbites on their tails, but he still felt angry for letting this happen. He may appear to be heartless with stone cold eyes and no expression under the black skull mask, but he felt the pain he felt when he lost his previous lover a million times stronger now.

He would never want the pain he felt when he lost _her_ to be on someone else. And yet he had let it happen…

_Ryan couldn’t have been angrier at himself._

Gavin sat next to Geoff, making connections now. On the nights that Dan stayed out later than he said he was. He remembered hearing the next day at work that this politician was found dead in his home. The Brit was remembering all the nights Dan came home late with injuries, or stitches, and how he told Gavin not to worry… and Gavin was always worried because Dan came home with broken bones, stitches, bruises, and other injuries and not _once_ had Gavin met Dan at the hospital.

And Gavin now knew that it was because he got them from killing people.

But then he remembered the newpaper headline he read as he walked to the bus on the morning of the day Dan died. It was about how a warehouse had burned to the ground, and there was a note left behind from the Fake AH Crew… and it made him wonder if it was really the Fake AH Crew who burned it down.

“Geoff…” All eyes looked at him- since it was the first time any one of them had spoken in what felt like forever. “When I was walking to work… on the morning that Dan died… you guys burned a warehouse… and left a note…”

They were all watching him with expectant looks.

“Was that you who burned it and left the note?”

“We didn’t burn it… but we left the note,” Geoff explained with a calm tone, hesitantly placing a hand on top of Gavin’s.

“Who was the note for? You wrote not to mess with your… _shit_ …” Gavin’s eyebrows furrowed as he met Geoff’s eyes.

“It was for the Cockbites… I had figured it out by then… and I just…” Geoff sighed again. “And I knew it was them, so a few weeks before I found out it was Dan… and I knew it was him. But he hadn’t done anything in a while, so I didn’t give him orders to be killed yet… but then he burned down the warehouse… and that was the final straw…”

Gavin’s breathing hitched. Dan had stayed out late the night before, and came back with ash between his fingers and under his nails, and Gavin had gotten worried. Dan told him not to worry- and kissed Gavin on the cheek before disappearing off into the shower to scrub the ash away.

“He hadn’t done anything…” Gavin’s voice cracked, and it sounded like he was holding back sobs. “Because we were planning for our wedding…”

Geoff’s eyes went wide, gasping. Slowly, Gavin lifted his eyes. Their eyes met, and Geoff’s shocked eyes met Gavin’s tear-filled eyes, and the tattooed man felt even worse than he already did.

“Gavin…” Geoff took in a shuddering breath, sounding like he was about to cry. “I-I’m so sorry… I didn’t- I didn’t mean to…”

“Then why were you mean to me?” Gavin suddenly asked, eyebrows furrowing as tears started to well up once again.

“Wha-what? What do you mean?” Geoff looked suddenly confused.

“The first day we met, you told me to get over myself. You told me that I needed to move on already, and then you said you had work to do, like you were too _bloody_ busy to deal with me,” Gavin hissed, wrenching his hand away from Geoff’s, which was still resting on top of his.

The other four only watched as Geoff and Gavin interacted. They were too shocked to try and speak; too scared about what was going to happen.

“Why did you say that then, and care now?” Gavin spat it out like they were poison in his mouth.

Geoff looked flabbergasted. “I-I… Gavin, I was- I was…. I was trying to come to terms with what I’ve done.”

The Brit couldn’t help but scoff. “ _You were trying to come to terms with what you’ve done_? You were trying to realize the mistake that you’ve done? But wait- I’m guessing you realized that you now had to deal with _me_. And you didn’t like that, so you decided to be a little bitch?”

Michael and Ray and Jack and Ryan watched as Geoff was reduced to nothing more than a lying man with tears in his eyes.

“Gav- it’s not _like_ that,” Geoff tried to explain.

“Then _what is this?_ Have you not cared the entire time? How do I even know you’re telling the truth?” Gavin hissed, standing up from his chair harshly. The chair almost tipped backwards, but Ray caught it- and instead it only screeched loudly against the hardwood floors of the kitchen.

Geoff only looked up at Gavin with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. The tattooed man was too shocked to speak.

“I can’t _stand you._ I don’t know if you can ever make this up Geoff,” Gavin shook his head, looking betrayed. “Tell me when you feel like telling the truth.”

With that, Gavin stormed out of the room, and instead of storming into the living room, he went straight to a bedroom. Across the house, a door slammed, and the kitchen fell silent.

Slowly, all eyes went over to Geoff, who was still looking at where Gavin was standing only seconds ago.

But they all started to break apart.

Ryan, shaking his head, got up from the table. Leaving his food behind, he slowly left the room, and taking hesitant steps, he wanted to go talk to Gavin, and try to get the Brit to calm down.

Michael and Ray shared a look, and got up together. They both started to head out of the kitchen, and in the doorway of the kitchen, they laced their fingers together. Sharing one last look, they headed towards the other bedroom, and as they passed the door Gavin had slammed, they saw Ryan, standing there with his forehead on the doorway… patiently waiting for Gavin to open the door.

Now, Jack and Geoff were the only ones left in the kitchen. By the time Michael and Ray had left, Geoff was back to looking at the table.

Slowly, Jack rose, and started to clear away the plates they had only half eaten. Dinner was long gone; no one had the courage to eat now. And not saying a word, Jack scrubbed the dishes clean and dried them, and put them back in their places in the cabinets.

The kitchen table was completely clean when Jack spoke again.

“I can’t believe you would do that…” Jack shook his head, standing in front of the sink with his back to Geoff.

“I can’t believe I trusted you…”

With that, Jack turned and he didn’t even look at Geoff when he left the kitchen. Now, Geoff was completely alone in the kitchen…

And it felt like he wasn’t just alone in the room, but he was alone completely.

No one was on his side now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God damn, this chapter was even worse than chapter 10… but through this angst, I have completely figured out the rest of this story!!! AREN’T YOU HAPPY? Well wait- you shouldn’t be… because I’ve probably torn your heart out with this chapter… whatever, hope you liked it anyway!


	21. Take Me Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin’s had enough of the Fake AH Crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The angst is not over… And I hope this lives up to my expectations because I’m writing this while out of town with no internet connection so I had a little difficulty finding motivation.. but then again- I can always edit it greatly… WHATEVER, THE ANGST STILL ISN’T OVER!

Standing outside of the locked door, Ryan exhaled softly. He wanted Gavin to open the door so he could help the Brit calm down because without even needing to say anything, the job of helping Gavin had gone to him. And it didn’t bother him one bit.

“Gavin…” He whispered softly, wishing that Gavin would just open the door.

He could hear the Brit pacing inside, he could hear muffled mumbles, and he _knew_ that Gavin shouldn’t be alone right now.

“Please… Open the door,” Ryan whispered, and he leaned forward a bit, resting his forehead on the wood of the door.

At the end of the hall, he heard footsteps. Looking up, he saw Michael and Ray walk by and disappear into the other bedroom without even saying a word.

Waiting another minute, Ryan sighed softly. “Gavin… Please just open the door.”

Finally, he heard the creaking of the floorboards stop. Gavin must be still now; on the other side of that door. Then, he heard the click of the lock.

Slowly and hesitantly, Ryan turned the door knob. Nothing stopped him as he pushed the door open and slipped inside.

Inside the room, Gavin was sitting on the corner of the bed, hands covering his face as his shoulders shook. With worried eyes, Ryan watched as Gavin cried; too scared to take a step forward.

“I’m so sick…” Gavin finally whispers- but it’s not as hopeful as Ryan hoped it was. The Brit wasn’t going to be okay; this was like last time. He had bottled up his feelings and finally one wrong thing made him break and spill like a breaking dam.

“What are you sick of?” Ryan had to ask; taking a hesitant step forward.

“I’m sick of this _crew_ ,” Gavin lets the word out like he was a deflating balloon and the words were the air shooting out. His shoulders sag, not shaking now. But then he pulls his hands away from his face, and locks eyes with Ryan.

Tear-filled, red-rimmed green and hazel eyes lock to confused icy blue ones.

And Ryan’s just confused, because what have they done to upset Gavin? They haven’t left him alone, or argued in front of him… and they made him laugh and smile- so _what could they have done to him_?

Gavin picked up on Ryan’s confused expression- furrowed eyebrows and head tilted slightly to the side with lips pursed

“I’m sick of being stuck in here. I’m sick of the idea of never having a ‘normal life’.” Gavin put air quotes around ‘normal life’ and made a face of disgust. Ryan took another step forward, carefully setting a hand on the Brit’s shoulder. Ryan’s lips parted- but Gavin had more to say.

“I’m sick of being _stuck_ here. I just want to go home,” Gavin wiped away the tears that were drying on his cheeks and looked down at his lap.

“Do you want to back to England…?” Ryan felt like it was a stupid question- and it seriously was a stupid question. The answer was so obvious.

“I want to go _home_ Ryan,” Gavin’s eyes were locked with the floor, and Ryan didn’t need to meet the Brit’s eyes to know that the man was hurting and was once again on the brink of tears.

“Oh,” Ryan’s lips made a small ‘o’ as he nodded a little (he felt a little stupid, the answer was seriously so obvious.) A stab of guilt struck his heart- and he felt guilty that Gavin was locked in this situation. The Brit couldn’t go home, they’d find him within the day he left, and he couldn’t do much else for himself. The five criminals have been making most of Gavin’s decisions for the past few weeks, so it must feel hard to not be in control of your own life anymore…

Ryan didn’t know what that felt like- but he felt like he had a sense of it.

“Ryan…” Gavin’s tone turned pleading. “I know that you care… Please just let me go…”

“Gavin I ca-” Ryan started, slowly sitting down next to Gavin on the bed; his hand still on the other’s shoulder.

“ _Please_ Ryan! I mean it! Let me go home- just let me go _please_ ,” Gavin was fully begging now, and he lifted his eyes to meet Ryan’s once again.

“Gavin… Geoff will get more upset than he already is, and I know that you don’t like him right now… but he’s my boss…” Ryan tried to get Gavin to reason with himself, but it wasn’t working.

“I don’t _fucking_ care about Geoff and that he’s your boss! He’s lied to you for weeks about this; don’t tell me you’re taking his side!” Gavin cried out, turning his whole body to face Ryan. The Brit’s voice was starting to get louder and louder- and Ryan feared that someone like Geoff would overhear them.

“I’m not saying that!” Ryan threw his hands up; he was slowly cracking.

“Then what _are_ you saying?! If you cared about me, and for once you didn’t worry about Geoff and his bloody orders, then you’d _help me_ ,” Gavin was very persuasive; Ryan was about to crack. The man really wanted to let Gavin go, and get as free as he could from this life style… but the side of him that the public often saw reasoned.

“I’m not going to let you go,” Ryan paused, and Gavin started to protest, but the blond quickly finished. “ _But_ , I’m going to go with you… so we can _visit._ ”

It looked like the sun had become Gavin’s eyes. The Brit looked like he hadn’t ever shed a tear, and Gavin launched himself straight into Ryan’s arms.

Ryan was so surprised by the Brit’s sudden change of attitude that he almost slipped and fell off the bed when the Brit wedged himself into his arms.

“Thank you, _thank you Ry,_ ” Gavin’s pleading tone was gone, and it felt like pressure that had been pushing down on Ryan’s chest had disappeared.

But Ryan was shocked too- shocked by Gavin’s sudden change of attitude. His hands were still up in the air; frozen in place as Gavin curled up in his lap.

“When can we leave?” Gavin sounded exasperated, and Ryan sighed through his nose and finally let his arms lower.

“In a few minutes… I’ll go tell Jack so he doesn’t worry…”

Gavin understood that that meant Ryan had to stand up, so he slid off the man’s lap. The Brit watched as Ryan stood and crossed the room. With his hand on the door, Ryan looked over his shoulder.

“Get your shoes on, and I’ll be back in a minute,” Ryan licked his lips, and Gavin nodded furiously before standing up to get his shoes from the living room.

_Ryan hoped he wouldn’t regret this_.

 

Jack told Ryan that he shouldn’t be doing this- he shouldn’t be taking Gavin back to his home where so many sour memories lay. But, Ryan went on with it anyway, telling Jack that they’d be back in an hour or two, and that none of them should worry.

Now the two sat in the car, Ryan driving through the empty streets of suburban Los Santos, and Gavin sitting in the passenger seat, looking out through the window. It was night now; the sun down and the moon inching its way across the sky.

Every so often, Ryan would look over at Gavin, and every so often, the Brit’s face would light up as they passed under a streetlight. When the light from the streetlight hit the Brit’s face, it made his eyes glow. Ryan didn’t feel any shame whenever he looked over at Gavin.

And Gavin knew Ryan was looking over, but he never commented on it. The Brit only looked out the window, watching as houses with lit windows passed by them, and empty intersections, and the occasional car.

Finally, they got to a street that Gavin knew.

It was the street that led into his neighborhood; it was the street that Gavin walked down every day and walked back from every night for work, and it was the street that he and Dan walked on some nights when neither of them could sleep and they felt restless in their house.

They were getting to where Gavin felt like he belonged.

_Where he felt at home_.

 

Ryan knew the address; he slowed the car to a stop in front of the house Gavin had spent the past few years living in.

But it looked out of place for Gavin- because all of the houses around them had lights on and his house sat dark and had the appearance that it’d been abandoned. That then made him wonder if his neighbors wondered what had happened to him and Dan...

But they slowed to a stop, and Gavin felt his stomach curl up into a knot. Even though he had asked to come here; it still felt like some sort of impending doom as the car slowed to a stop in front of the house. Doom in the sense that this could possibly cause some horrible breakdown.

“Do you want to go inside?” Ryan’s voice was barely above a whisper. There was no need to speak any louder with Gavin so close in the near silent car.

“Yeah,” Gavin exhaled as his shoulders drooped a little.

Ryan was a kind man- he waited patiently for Gavin to gather enough courage to open the car door and step outside.

It was about five minutes of silence before Gavin gathered up enough strength to push open the car door. Ryan took the key out of the ignition, and opened his door too.  The pair crossed the empty and dark street, and then walked up the sidewalk to Gavin’s front door.

“Did you leave it locked?” Gavin’s voice was in the same tone that Ryan’s had been- barely above a whisper and calm.

“Yeah,” Ryan started to dig through the pockets of his jacket- and then to his jeans. “But I grabbed the key… since Ray picked it up when he was getting some clothes for you.”

Gavin’s eyebrows furrowed- he was a little uncomfortable with the thought of the country’s five most dangerous criminals having the key to his house. But then he realized that it was good they had the keys- because somewhere along the wild-ride that was the past few weeks, he’d misplaced his set of the keys… Maybe he left it behind the night he discovered Dan in the bedroom with Michael standing above him… Or maybe not; but it didn’t really matter now.

With a surprisingly loud click, the door unlocked, and Ryan slowly pushed it open.

The inside of Gavin’s house was dark and quiet- just like it had been when he’d come home to discover Dan all those weeks ago. With an uneasy stare and a nervous stomach, Gavin stepped into his living room. The room was exactly like it looked the last time he was inside, but with only a few changes.

His bag was still sitting on the couch, but it was thrown open and a few things scattered on the cushions from where Ray was hunting for Gavin’s phone and laptop. There was a drawer of the entertainment center open, the one where Gavin and Dan stored all of their chargers and extra wires. The drawer was half open, and other than that, there were no differences.

Ryan stepped into the house, closing the door behind him. Turning back around, the blond watched as Gavin surveyed the living room, and he watched as Gavin looked more and more defeated. The man could barely imagine how hard this must be for the Brit- seeing the relics of his dead fiancé and remembering just how daily life went in this house.

And he could also tell how lived in the house was; there were shoes by the door, magazines on the table, pictures hanging up on the walls, a blanket thrown over the couch. It just made his eyes fall when he realized he had never been inside this house- he’d only seen it from the outside. Seeing things from outside a window was much different than on the other side of it, and Ryan was learning that as he trailed after Gavin through the house and saw all of what the house had inside.

When they came to the kitchen, Gavin remembered that this was the last place he saw his fiancé… _alive_. His empty and blank expression faded into some sort of mournful look as he stood in the very center of his somewhat unorganized kitchen. Ryan stood in the doorway, just like he had for the living room, and watched Gavin’s eyes flicker to a million different emotions as each object or place brought back memories.

“God I miss him.”

It’d been a few minutes of dead silence- the only sound being Gavin’s heaving breaths as he tried to not cry. The Brit’s eyes weren’t anywhere near Ryan as he spoke; they were set on the kitchen table, where some envelopes were laying in front of a chair that was pulled away from the table. Ryan watched as Gavin took a small step forward and reached for the envelopes.

“I wish I could see him one last time…”

Ryan couldn’t help but purse his lips as the Brit started to thumb through the envelopes, and with a distraught look, the Brit placed them back on the table.

“I know you do,” Ryan whispered, and finally Gavin’s eyes lifted to meet Ryan’s. “Come on; let’s go upstairs… if you want to.”

“Yeah, I do…”

“Then let’s go,” Ryan decided to hold his hand out for Gavin; it was hopefully going to help Gavin stay calm. The Brit cracked a very weak smile- but it was a smile none the less.

Sliding his hand into Ryan’s, Gavin started to lead Ryan out of the kitchen and to the stairs.

“Come on, I want to grab something,” Gavin tugged on Ryan’s hand, and it felt like the mood had lightened a little; because Ryan laughed softly as they climbed the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a little like the calm before the storm... oh shit- I hope that doesn’t give anything away! But I hope you enjoyed, and stick around another week for another chapter c:


	22. Interlude III- Injuries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan came home with a million different injuries at a million different times, and each and every time Gavin wished to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This interlude is more on the… sad side- apologies. But whatever- next week is more action I swear!

Dan would come home with a million different injuries at a million different times, and each and every time Gavin wished to help.  

But Dan would brush his fiancé off, and tell Gavin that it was okay or fine or good- all he needed was some ice or all he needed was to clean up.

“ _Dan,”_ Gavin would say in this sad tone that would make Dan’s heart crack. It didn’t help that Gavin’s eyes would fall and his shoulders would droop. “ _I just want to help you_ …”

“ _You can’t help Gav,”_ Dan would say back, resting a hand on his fiancé’s shoulder. “ _You don’t know how to do stitches,”_ or “ _I’m fine, I just need to take a shower_ ,” or even “ _I’m fine Gav.”_

And each and every time Gavin would watch Dan walk down the hall to the bathroom, and he’d stand there looking at the empty air as if Dan was still there. It almost looked like he was looking at a ghost- empty and unmoving eyes.

He just wanted to help Dan.

_Was that so hard to ask for?_

 

In hopes of keeping Dan happy- Gavin just shut his mouth. He learned to not ask about how Dan got some injury; he’d let Dan clean up and fix himself. The only thing he’d ever do is ask Dan how his day went… and he didn’t know any better; he’d eat up whatever lie Dan told him about how his day was because that’s all he knew about Dan’s work. Pure _lies_.

At the time, Gavin was completely unaware that they were being watched- he wasn’t aware that the Fake AH Crew was watching him and Dan, and how Gavin would try and help and be pushed off… He didn’t know just how pathetic he looked when he tried to help Dan only to be pushed away like he was completely and utterly useless.

“ _Dan, please_ ,” Gavin would stand in the doorway and watch as Dan wet a washcloth to wipe down his wounds. “ _I just want to help_ …”

Dan would look over at Gavin with an empty look in his eyes. Wiping down the blood on his hands, he’d sigh. “ _It’s fine Gav; I know what I’m doing.”_

_“Are you sure?_ ” Gavin’s tone would droop like his shoulders, leaving him looking pathetic. He felt so weak because he didn’t know how to help Dan. He didn’t know how to help the cuts on his fiancé’s arms, he couldn’t stitch up his fiancé’s leg, he couldn’t check if his fiancé had broken his ribs or not; he couldn’t do _anything_ but watch as Dan cleaned himself up.

“ _Yes Gav, I’m sure,”_ Dan would always let his words out in a sigh, which did nothing but make Gavin feel worse about not being able to do a thing.

“ _I’ll go get some ice…”_ That felt like the only thing he could do- get Dan some ice. His fiancé wouldn’t even watch him leave; he’d turn his attention back to his bleeding arm or his gaping leg and start to patch himself up.

“ _I love you_ …” Gavin would say when he returned with a little plastic baggie of ice wrapped with a paper-towel. Gavin really meant it- he loved his fiancé so much.

“ _I love you too_ ,” Dan would take the ice, setting it on the counter for now as he finished what he was doing. Due to Gavin’s weak stomach, he’d mumble something along the lines of _‘going to make dinner’_ before walking down to the kitchen.

When Dan finished up with whatever injury that needed cleaning or patching up, he’d walk downstairs to meet Gavin in the kitchen. Most of the time, he wouldn’t even bring the bag of ice that his fiancé had gotten him.

“ _I love you…”_ Dan would repeat- curling his arms around Gavin’s waist as the other stood in front of the stove cooking. The roles were reversed now; it was Gavin who was reserved and silent and Dan who was just trying to get his love’s attention.

But in the end, Gavin would crack and let Dan flit around him and help him set the table; he’d crack and smile at Dan and kiss his cheek and make him feel better.

“ _I love you too_ ,” Gavin would whisper right before bringing Dan into a chaste kiss. Dan would smile against his fiancé’s lips, and when they pulled apart his smile would widen.

This is what always happened- Dan would come home with some injury and Gavin would try his best to help… and when Dan was finished the roles would reverse and it was Dan trying to help cheer Gavin up. But in the end, no matter what the injury was, Gavin would cave or crack and forget about Dan’s injury and put on a real smile.

They’d eat dinner, watch a movie or play video games while cuddling, then move upstairs when it got late enough and they’d curl up together in their sleep… it was an endless cycle. Well- endless, of course, until the Fake AH Crew came in to change the day-to-day life Gavin had.

_The cycle was broken with more pain than Gavin could ever imagine._

Standing in the hallway of his house, Gavin slowly blinked and pushed the memories away. He had paused in front of the hall bathroom, where all of the supplies Dan used to clean up were stored. In the sink was a bone dry wash cloth that was slightly stained from all the times Dan wiped off his blood with it. The wash cloth was still sitting there from months ago, when Dan had come home and cleaned off before going into the bedroom… where he had ended up breathing his final breath in.

A hand on the Brit’s shoulder made him jump- and there was Ryan, standing right next to him.

“Are you okay?”

For a second, Gavin thought it was Dan- but one look over and the image of Dan disappeared. “Y-Yeah… I’m okay.”

The shuddered breath and shaky hands didn’t convince Ryan. But here in Gavin’s house, with the Brit paused as he remembered all the things that happened, Ryan knew Gavin wouldn’t be okay… He just hoped that this wasn’t too hard for Gavin.

“Well come on, you wanted to get something from up here,” Ryan’s voice wasn’t above a whisper, and that’s all Gavin needed to be convinced.

Taking in a shaky breath, Gavin started to walk down the hall towards the bedroom. He left the bathroom door wide open, where Dan patched himself up after receiving a million different injuries at a million different times…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck… that was a little hard to write- I could feel tears in my eyes. But I guess it didn’t help that I was listening to sad music. Oh well… Stick around for next week’s chapter! :D


	23. Safe House II (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They couldn’t stay in one place for too long when Los Santos’ second largest gang was after them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this was fun to write. And it’s pretty lengthy, so have fun guys c:

What Gavin had wanted to pick up was some more clothes and a framed picture of the day he and Dan got engaged.

Ryan watched Gavin pack up his clothes from the doorway. The Brit was shoving shirts and a few more pairs of jeans into an empty grocery bag that had been stashed under the sink, and Ryan felt oddly nervous while watching Gavin. He didn’t exactly know _why_ he was nervous; he just was.

After filling the small grocery bag with clothes, Gavin paused in front of the nightstand. Sitting on the nightstand on his side of the bed, there was the photo the Brit loved more than any other photo hanging in their house.

Slowly, he picked up the frame, eyes locked with the smiling couple in the photo. The Gavin in the photo was holding up his hand to show off the golden band around his ring finger, and the Dan in the photo had his arm reaching out of frame, he was taking the picture. Gavin blinked slowly, his thumb carefully rubbing against the wooden frame.

He remembered the two memories that came with the photo- the day Dan proposed, and the day that Gavin put the photo on the nightstand.

Dan had thought it was silly- they already had photos scattered around their house, and he thought it was ridiculous to put one on the nightstand. But Gavin told him that he wanted it there- so if Dan had gotten up earlier than him he could see something happy when he first opened his eyes in the morning.

Not a fan of the cheese, Dan boo’d at Gavin, but kissed his now-fiancé before walking out of the bedroom.

Gavin remembered those two days quite well, and both of them were amazing…

And it sent a stab of pain through his heart, but he slowly turned around, lowering the frame in his hands. The bag of clothes was sitting on the bed, and carefully the Brit picked it up.

“Come on…” Gavin licked his lips, looking up from the picture and meeting eyes with Ryan. “I’m ready to go…”

“Okay, let’s go,” Ryan waved Gavin forward. Of course, he waited until Gavin was leaving the room before following.

_(The blond didn’t mention a word- but the shag carpet Gavin was standing on had a dark stain… Probably from when Ray had come in and hastily cleaned up the room all those months ago.)_

At a slow pace, Gavin went back through the house and towards the front door with Ryan right on his heels.

Now they were standing on the front porch, with the front door closed behind Gavin’s back.

“Are you ready to go?” Ryan asked tentatively, wanting to double check with Gavin.

“Yeah,” it took Gavin a minute to find the courage and strength to step off the porch. Pursing his lips, Ryan stated to follow Gavin down the driveway to where they had parked the car.

_Ryan didn’t say a word as they got into the car._

The ride was _painfully_ quiet.

With only the radio serving as background noise; the two men were sitting in an uncomfortable silence. Ryan felt the need to say something to Gavin, and Gavin wished that Ryan wouldn’t say a thing. For once, they were both on opposing sides…

With every time they pulled to a red light, Ryan would glance over at Gavin; who had his head resting against the window and almost soul-less eyes staring out at the world passing by the window.

What was extra painful for Ryan is that he wanted to break the silence- say something to try to ease the Brit’s tension, but he didn’t know what to say. And even if he did have the words, he’d feel too bad and awkward to break the silence.

And as they got closer and closer to the safe house, Ryan felt like something was wrong.

Every time he glanced out of the rear-view window, there was a car there. Sure, it could just be some innocent civilian going somewhere… But Ryan didn’t feel all that right; this car had been following them for almost the entire drive, ever since they left Gavin’s neighborhood. This strange car, painted all black with heavily tinted windows, made Ryan’s stomach slowly start to knot.

When they pulled onto the driveway of the safehouse, it was like someone had injected life back into Gavin. The Brit had spent the entirety of the car ride staring out the window with no expression, but when they pulled into the driveway he suddenly bounced up, hooking the bag of clothes around his arm before starting to impatiently tug on the door handle.

If Ryan wasn’t feeling uneasy, he would’ve made some comment about how impatient Gavin was… But he couldn’t find the right mind to make jokes.

Instead, he parked the car and turned off the engine. It took him a minute to start moving; he watched Gavin throw open the door then bound up the driveway to the front porch. Sighing, he glanced one last time in the rear-view mirror…

And the mystery car had stopped a few houses down. But no one was getting out- and Ryan furrowed his eyebrows for a few seconds.

Sighing again, Ryan gave up, pulling the key out of the ignition and leaning across the center console to close the passenger door; which Gavin had left _wide_ open.

Walking up the drive, Ryan ran a hand through his hair. He’d abandoned the mask when they left for Gavin’s house, and it should still be sitting somewhere in the living room. He glanced up at the sky, and even though all of the stars were invisible from the Los Santos city lights, Ryan couldn’t help but imagine them.

It’d been awhile since he’s been far enough away from a city to see them. Sure, he’s gone up north dozens of times with the guys for missions, but whenever he went up there it was either day time or they were too busy to take time to go star-gazing.

Ryan’s peace as he looked up at the stars was quickly broken when he reached the front porch.

Gavin had left the front door wide open, just like the passenger door, and he could hear loud curses and yells that had to be coming from Michael.

Shutting the door behind him, Ryan fought back the urge to sigh and roll his eyes.

“What a fucking asshole,” Michael was hissing; standing in the middle of the living room with his hands clenched into fists and pacing quickly. Taking sharp turns with each pace, Michael was not even close to calming down.

“I’m sure he had his reasons,” Gavin was standing by the couch, the bag of clothes sitting on the couch cushions and the framed photo propped up on the coffee table.

“Just because he has his… _reasons,_ doesn’t mean that he’s not an asshole!” Michael’s fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white.

Ryan stood frozen, listening in as he hid behind the wall that separated the living room from the entryway. No wanting to make a sound, he held his breath.

“Michael…” Gavin’s voice fell. “I get you’re upset…”

“You _get_ it? Oh thanks Gavin- coming from the guy who’s fucking grieving over a man I killed- way to be sympathetic,” Michael sassed, and without needing to peek out from the wall, Ryan could tell that Michael was fuming and Gavin looked like he was about to curl in on himself.

“I don’t… I don’t even know what to say anymore,” Gavin was shaking his head, looking at the floor with a downcast expression.

“Maybe it’s good that you don’t know,” Michael’s words felt like a punch in Gavin’s stomach; and before Gavin could say a word, Michael was stalking down the hall and into one of the bedrooms.

_Unfortunately, there was no privacy in this house._

The laundry machine in the house was old, and _loud_.

Jack had found the washer and dryer set up in the garage, a weird place to put them, and started to throw in their laundry. The bearded man was now sitting on the cold concrete floor, waiting for the dryer to finish up and stop the constant hammering sound it was making.

To say the absolute very least, Jack was stressed.

The crew was falling apart, Geoff had been lying for _weeks_ , and they still had to worry about Gavin. To him, it felt like all of their problems were crashing down at once. And they still haven’t come up with a proper game plan for taking down the Cockbites!

Sighing, Jack slid off his glasses to run a hand over his face.

He was glad he had some privacy- this house was far too small to house six people. Six people with two of them constantly needing some form of privacy, one grieving, and one who was hated by just about everyone else in the house.

This was too much work- planning a _heist_ was easier work than this; they’ve planned hundreds of heists ranging from large to small, and it felt like the hardest heist they’ve ever pulled was easier than this.

And Jack held back a groan when he heard the door to the garage creak as it opened.

Sliding his glasses back on, he looked up at whoever was walking in.

It was Ray.

“Geoff’s sitting out in the kitchen drinking,” Ray sounded defeated, tired, like he wanted to give up. “I’m just guessing you’re taking leader-position since you’re second-in-command.”

“Just because I’m second-in-command doesn’t make me a leader,” Jack sighed, his shoulders drooping.

Ray was silent for a little bit, still standing in the doorway to the garage. Finally sighing, he moved forward and slid down onto the floor next to Jack.

Resting his head on the bearded man’s shoulder, he let his eyes fall to the floor. “I know… But we need a leader Jack, and no one’s going to listen to Geoff. Well- I might, but Ryan and Michael? _Gavin_? I don’t think so.”

“Well we’re safe for now- that’s all that matters,” Jack tilted his head, resting against Ray’s head.

“Are you sure we’re safe? Ryan said something on this guy following them,” Ray spoke so casually, but Jack shot up. Ray let out a little yelp as Jack pushed himself off the ground and started to walk towards the door of the garage.

Ray only watched Jack go- and then pause in the doorway.

“I’m going to talk to Ryan, when that dryer goes off go find a duffel bag or something to put the clothes in,” Jack’s voice came out a command- and if the situation wasn’t so tense, Ray would’ve made a joking comment on how Jack was acting like a leader.

_But Ray only nodded, and watched Jack go._

Ryan was sitting in the living room, wiping down his mask as Gavin curled up beside him watching something stupid on TV. The blond man had mentioned to Ray how there was an odd car that had followed them; Ray had only shrugged and said ‘Well it could just be coincidence.’

And Ryan didn’t want to think of it as a coincidence.

“Ryan,” Jack stood in the mouth of the hallway, causing Ryan to look up from mask in his hands. “What did you say to Ray?”

When Ryan looked at Jack with a confused expression, the bearded man explained himself better.

“You told him that there was some car following you,” Jack’s eyebrows furrowed, and realization dawned on Ryan’s face.

“Oh,” his lips made an ‘o’. “Well…”

Ryan licked his lips, and then bit his bottom one as he glanced outside the window that was facing the front yard. And of _course_ , that’s when he had to notice movement from the front lawn.

“Hey, do you know if anyone’s outside?” Ryan’s eyes locked with the figure crossing the lawn. Ryan would’ve thought it was some person who lived in the neighborhood… but wearing all black was suspicious…

“No…” Jack trailed off, and from the couch, Gavin nervously followed Ryan’s gaze.

With three pairs of eyes on the figure crossing the lawn, they watched as the figure came to a car- and reached down to stick something below the door.

“I think that’s a-” Jack started, but was cut off with Ryan grabbing his wrist.

“That’s a _bomb!”_ Ryan yelled, and the figure ran across the yard, back to the car that had followed him and Gavin home. “We need to _get out of here!_ ”

Gavin held back the urge to screech, almost falling off the couch to grab the bag of his belongings that was on the coffee table.

“Get Ray and Michael- I’ll get Geoff and we don’t take that car,” Ryan’s words were a command, and Jack didn’t want to say anything against him. If Geoff wasn’t acting like their leader, someone needed to.

Jack when down to the bedrooms, where Michael was sitting in, and then to the garage where Ray was _fortunately_ putting dry, clean clothes into a bag.

Ryan… didn’t have as well as luck with Geoff as Jack did with Michael and Ray.

“Geoff,” Ryan hissed. “We need to go.”

“Where?” Geoff was leaning against the counter, probably holding in all of his angst and letting it stew in his mind.

“We got a bomb on one of our cars- we need to-”

And then it sounded like the world had exploded.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahA BITCHES HAVE FUN WITH THATTTT! SEE YOU NEXT WEEK FOR MORE PAIN!! HAHAHAAAA


	24. Safe House II (Part Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They had to flee somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, part two… This may hurt.

_And then it sounded like the world had exploded._

The house shook, and the windows facing the front yard lit with a deep orange.

The force of the twin explosions ( _the first car had triggered the second to go up in flames then explode_ ), and the pure shock of the explosion sent everybody in the house to the floor; Geoff and Ryan in the kitchen, Michael, Ray, Jack, and Gavin in the living room.

Over the sound of the crackling fire, Jack was yelling at Michael to grab Gavin because “ _they needed to go!_ ”.

“Come on!” Ryan pushed himself up off the ground using the counter and then held his hand out to Geoff, who only looked at him with disbelief.

It felt like the house, and even the world, was shaking and crackling as the explosion ringed in Ryan’s ears.

“Where are we going to go?” Geoff tried to yell to be heard over the rattling and crackling; he wasn’t taking Ryan’s hand yet.

“I don’t know,” Ryan hissed, shaking his hand to signal for Geoff to grab it. Geoff grabbed it, and felt the urge to roll his eyes. He didn’t, and let Ryan pull him up off the tile floor. “Just grab my _hand!_ ”

The house must’ve caught on fire or something; the room’s temperature was steadily rising and it felt like the air was getting thicker and thicker with smoke.

“We just need to get out of here!” Ryan licked his lips, coughing a little before looking into the living room.

In the living room, Michael was pulling Gavin off the floor- slinging an arm around the Brit’s shoulder so Gavin wouldn’t collapse. The Brit had gone into some form of shock- he wasn’t speaking and barely cooperating with Michael. Jack helped Ray off the ground, and Ray nodded as a silent ‘thank you’ before joining Ryan in the kitchen.

Michael, Gavin, and Jack weren’t far behind- and they left the house in the only way possible.

_The back door._

They were lucky- the safe house didn’t have a fenced-in backyard. Good, that meant they could run faster just in case whoever had stuck the bomb to the car was following them. They also wouldn’t have to worry about hopping fences either; that would do absolutely nothing but slow them down.

“What do you think that was?” Ray panted as they sprinted across a backyard a few streets away from the safe house. They didn’t have any cars to drive- so for now they’d run as far as they could.

“I don’t know,” Jack was panting too, and checked behind them. In the distance, they could see smoke rising above the trees and curling up into the night sky. In the distance, there were sirens.

_(One of the neighbors that lived on the same street as the safe-house must’ve called the fire department…)_

“Great, I bet it was the Cockbites,” Ryan spoke for the first time since he’d yelled at Geoff in the kitchen before they escaped the burning house.

“With our luck, it could be anyone,” Ray was running right next to Ryan- so he spoke in a whisper. “We’ve been out of our main territory for a few weeks now- people must be getting itchy for power…”

“We’ll fix that as soon as we end this,” Geoff growled, finally slowly in his pace. Everyone started to slow down too.

“By now I’m surprised we haven’t had any issues, we’ve been out of our space for a while,” Ray bit his lip a little.

“It’s probably the B-Team handling it,” Michael tried to come up with a reason.

By now, they were a good five or six streets away, with a large part of the neighborhood between them and the burning safehouse. They were even hiding behind a house, away from the street, if that helped anything.

“Come on Gav,” Michael whispered to Gavin, who looked like he was about to collapse under the stress of the explosion and the running. “Let’s sit down…”

Carefully- Michael kneeled down, his arm around Gavin helping the Brit to a sitting position on the dew-covered grass below them.

The four of them were watching carefully- worried about Gavin. The Brit wasn’t used to this type of life, while the five were used to it. They were used to running away from danger, and in this case it was a burning house. Gavin, on the other hand wasn’t.

After a few minutes of silence to collect their breath, Jack started to study all of them.

“Who’s got bags?” He asked, biting his lip. Michael raised both of his hands, one for him and one for Gavin, Ryan raised his hand, and Ray did. Luckily, Ray had gotten the bag of their laundry.

“Good, good, we have something,” Jack sighed, but none of them knew if it was for relief or not.

And they fell into silence again; Michael and Gavin both sitting on the ground. Ryan was looking in the direction of the street to see if there were any cars coming. Ray was looking in the direction of the safe house and watching smoke curl and rise in the air. Jack was digging through all of their bags to see what they had. Geoff was looking glumly at the grass, like this was his fault.

_It was a while before any of them spoke again._

“Where are we going to stay?” Ray had given up on watching the smoke, and now he was just looking up at the night sky, which had no stars from all of the city lights.

“I don’t know,” Ryan bit his lip, studying all of their faces. It was an array of expressions; sadness, guilt, fear, and shock. Gavin looked the worst out of them all- he was shaking a little ( _and not just from the chilly breeze_ ) and he had his eyes wide in fear.

“All of our safe-houses are being watched now,” Geoff sighed, running a hand over his face and scrubbing at his eyes like he had a bad itch.

“No where we can go…” Jack pursed his lips, looking across the yard they were hiding in.

Whoever owned this house must not be home- the lights were off, and if they were home they would’ve noticed six men sitting in the middle of their yard under the large tree they had. They had gotten lucky- if the person who owned the house was home and had called the cops they would be in even more trouble.

“We can go to my house,” Gavin spoke up for the first time they left the house, which was over an hour ago. Instantly, everyone’s eyes were on him. It was all the same look of shock for him speaking, and then denial at the idea.

Gavin found his words- and started to explain himself.

“Well- you guys have nowhere else to go,” he paused. “A-And I don’t think my house is being watched… and I’d like to go home…”

All of them sighed on cue, and Gavin’s fearful look suddenly turned into a panicked one.

“P-Please I’d just like to go home, b-but I don’t want to be alone,” it came out in a pleading tone, and none of them knew what to do exactly.

“Why not?” Michael piped up, and shifted his arm around Gavin’s waist- moving it up to the Brit’s shoulders. Gavin happily accepted the movement, and even started to lean against him. “He’s got a point. All of our other places are being watched, and why not? We’ve been trapping him for weeks; we can let him go home.”

All of their worried looks turned into something like guilt, and Gavin wanted to thank Michael for being with him on this.

“That’s actually not that bad of an idea,” Ray shrugged, sticking his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. And with half of them agreeing, Jack, Ryan, and Geoff caved and agreed.

“But wait- how do we get there? It’d take all night to walk that far,” Ray groaned- not wanting to walk all night. Michael snickered a little and started to get up. Gavin quickly followed, making sure the other’s arm was still on his shoulders.

“We could steal a car?” Ryan suggested, shrugging and raising his hands in a ‘why not’ gesture. They all laughed lightly, and then shrugged.

“Sounds good to me,” Michael had a small smile on his lips- and so did Gavin.

_And that was the plan_.

 

Ray, Ryan, and Michael had all been in Gavin’s house- and except for Ryan; they never really studied the interior of the house.

While Gavin was wandering into the living room to turn on a lamp, they all watched the room light up. It looked lived in to the five criminals, and all felt the same stab of guilt by the sight.

The house looked lived in- a blanket thrown over the back of the couch, photos hanging on the walls, the shelves next to the TV stand full of movies, games, and books, magazines on the coffee table, shoes thrown in a pile by the front door.

They all felt the same grief- ruining the family that was growing in this house.

But when they saw Gavin relax in his own home, the grief melted away.

“I’ll show you guys the bedrooms… and I only have one guest bedroom… but I think we- I mean… _I_ have an inflatable mattress somewhere,” Gavin bit his lip, pausing in thought.

But all of them caught Gavin’s correction- and all shared a guilt-filled look before Gavin continued.

“I have one guest bedroom, one couch, and one inflatable mattress… So no one will have to sleep on the floor,” Gavin smiled a little- and this time it actually made it to his eyes. That of course, made all of them smile a little too.

“Now… Um… The bedrooms are upstairs… are you guys wanting to sleep?” Gavin asked, with a twinge of nervousness in his voice. When all of them nodded, Gavin nodded too.

“Okay, so to figure out sleeping arrangements, yeah?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay- writing Gavin’s correction brought tears to my eyes, like holy shit for real. This has been painful to write, and heeeEEELP THE ANGST ISN’T OVER


	25. The Next Morning… Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up in a new house was always an interesting experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I hope this is good…. I didn’t plot it out at all except for only one small thing. And yeah.. I hope it is, ‘cause the weekend that I wrote this was FANTASTIC. Like I came out to my parents as pansexual (on the day that same-sex marriage was legalized), I moved my room around and it looks wonderful and clean, and I went out with a friend. LIKE THE WEEKEND THAT I’M WRITING THIS WAS FANTASTIC!

For the first time in weeks, Gavin slept in an actual bed.

And… the experience was both comforting and horrifying.

It felt wonderful to be in a bed; it felt wonderful to be in _his_ bed. It made him finally feel like he was at home- because he _was_ at home.

But it was also horrifying.

He was used to having another warm body lying next to him. He was used to Dan curling up against his bag, wrapping his arms around Gavin’s waist, and acting like a furnace against his back on the night where their house got a little too cold.

Feeling the sheets cold next to him left him sleepless for a few hours. He wasn’t used to lying in such a big bed. For the past few weeks, he’s been sleeping on a small couch with Ryan pressed up against him… And that made him terrified to feel the cold, empty sheets next to him.

He slept for only a few hours- waking up before the sun and lying awake on his back with eyes on the ceiling. Slowly, he sat up and stretched his arms above his head when he figured that laying there with nothing to do was boring and useless.

Geoff and Jack had taken the guest bedroom, Michael and Ray took the air mattress, and Ryan took the couch… again.

Carefully and silently, Gavin padded downstairs. In the living room, he could hear soft snores and heavy breathing.

The Brit stood in the doorway, and watched Michael roll over in his sleep, and nearly push Ray over the edge of the mattress. His eyes flickered up to the couch, where Ryan was laying with his back towards the rest of the room.

Gavin didn’t know if he was asleep or not.

But slowly, Gavin turned around and tip-toed into the kitchen. His eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness and he could see almost perfectly in the kitchen. The only light in the room was coming from the window, and the streetlight outside.

Letting out a barely audible sigh, Gavin crossed the living room and opened the cabinet next to the sink. The cabinet held all of their cups, mugs, and glasses. Carefully, he pulled out a mug. He didn’t want to make any loud noise and disturb anyone else in the house.

As he waited for the coffee maker to warm up, he glanced out the window above the sink. He could see between the houses and the trees; the sky was slowly starting to lighten and what few stars were in the sky started to fade as the sun rose.

He didn’t even realize the coffee maker had warmed up- he was still staring out the window.

The view was so familiar to Gavin.

He looked out the window nearly every morning and every evening. The same view every day; never changing or altering.

For once, Gavin felt like his life hadn’t changed.

And it made some weight fall off his shoulders. But his peace was disrupted when he heard a thump and a muffled laugh from the living room.

It felt like blinking, suddenly the sky was brighter and he could hear voices and footsteps.

“Your mattress is small as shit,” Michael’s voice carried into the kitchen, and Gavin turned. There was Michael, standing in the doorway. His eyes had dark circles underneath, and his hair was all over the place. But there was a sleepy grin on his face that kept Gavin from being worried.

“Sorry… I’m not used to having so many… guests,” Gavin spoke hesitantly. Technically, the five criminals were guests in his home… But he felt awkward for saying it.

“It’s okay,” Michael shrugs, and suddenly yelps when Ray appears behind him to pinch his side.

“You fuck, you pushed me off the bed,” Ray had the same sort of sleepy grin on his lips.

“That mattress is small as hell, I’m _sorry_ ,” Michael swatted at Ray’s hand, which was still lingering at his side. Gavin watched the two, still feeling out of it.

_Gavin only turns back to the coffee maker._

 

Gavin’s house sounds like it should be now. Constant background noise, whether it is the sounds of videogames in the living room or chattering of voices. It sounds like it should be; _lively_. It makes Gavin feel at home, despite Dan not being there, and instead there’s five criminals replacing him. But hey- he’s happy to be home.

And while he’s changing out of his pajamas, he sees something on Dan’s nightstand that he doesn’t remember being there.

Slowly, he pulls on a new shirt, one that’s his own, and pads bare foot across the rug to the nightstand.

On the nightstand, right next to the book Dan was reading before he died, laid a silver chain, and Gavin’s breathing hitched.

It was Dan’s dog-tags.

Gavin froze, and saw the little piece of metal that Dan had gotten while in the army. That little piece of metal was Dan’s identification if he ever died and his body was unrecognizable.

The Brit’s eyes were wide as he slowly picked up the chain. There were two pieces of metal, and they clinked together as he studied them. There wasn’t enough light in the room for them to shine, and Gavin didn’t know what to do.

He’s completely forgotten about Dan’s tags; he didn’t know where they had gone or if they still existed. But now he was remembering the silver chain being wrapped around his fiancé’s neck and the pieces of metal clinking together as Dan walked.

With shaking hands, he slowly slipped the chain over his head.

It felt like the only piece of Dan that was left… despite there being dozens of shirts and other clothing items of his laying only a few feet away in the dresser.

A deep breath in and a deep breath out; Gavin was trying to remain calm as he felt the cool silver chain settle and the two pieces of metal rest against his chest. He stood in front of the dresser for a few more minutes, looking down at the two pieces of metal against the fabric of his shirt. It was an odd sight- to not see them on Dan…

But after two or three minutes, Gavin felt calm. Taking another deep breath, he turned around and went back over to the dresser to continue getting dressed.

_In a few minutes Gavin was walking back downstairs._

Ryan had slept horribly.

Sure, Gavin’s couch was pretty comfortable, and wasn’t as lumpy as the couch in the last house they stayed in… But he could never sleep on the first night spent in a new place. It was just how his body worked.

But he sat on the couch shortly after Geoff stumbled downstairs with Jack following behind him. Now the crew was all gathered up in the living room, Michael and Ray still laying, but awake, on the air mattress, and Geoff taking the recliner off to the side of the room, and Jack joining Ryan on the couch.

It was pretty comfortable, and it felt almost like their apartment… Except the walls of windows, everything being high tech and shiny stainless steel, and the homey feel of having pictures hanging on the walls and blankets thrown on the couch.

It felt like home… Just not to Ryan.

And the footsteps on the stairs made him glance over to the entryway to the living room, where Gavin appeared.

“Hey,” Ryan waved a little, and he put on a weak smile. Gavin waved back shyly, and had the same smile on his lips.

Slowly, Gavin crossed the living room and sat down on the couch on Ryan’s right, since Jack was sitting to the left.

That’s when Ryan noticed what was around Gavin’s neck.

“Gav,” Ryan whispered. “What’s…?”

It took Gavin a few seconds to realize what Ryan was talking about, and then he realized Ryan was looking down at his chest.

“O-Oh… It’s Dan’s dog-tags,” Gavin nibbled at his lip, glancing down at the chain around his neck. He looked back up at Ryan, who had his eyebrows furrowed. Everyone else heard, despite the TV being on, and they shared a look.

Michael and Ray shared a worried look; Geoff and Jack shared a concerned one.

No one says anything for a while, and it makes Gavin’s stomach tighten into a knot. The Brit’s worried about how weird it sounds to be wearing his fiancé’s dog-tags.

Finally, Gavin decides to get up, and he shyly leaves the living room to head into the kitchen. What he does in the kitchen, none of the five criminals knows.

“At least he has something left…” Ray murmurs, and suddenly Michael reaches over to swat at Ray’s arm. “ _What_?”

“He’s got a _houseful_ of stuff left Ray!” Michel hisses, and Jack reaches forward to put a hand on Michael’s shoulder.

“Michael… He’s still emotional… He hasn’t been in his house in long time… and he needs some time,” Jack whispers, glancing to the entry way to the living room. Right across the hall from the entry way is the entry way to the kitchen.

Michael looks a little downcast, and then rubs at Ray’s arm where he hit the other. “’M sorry…”

“It’s okay Michael,” Ray sighs, and leans against the other. “We’re all… Just trying to work this out.”

“I guess,” Michael shrugs a little.

Geoff and Ryan don’t say a thing, and they share a look, but only for a few seconds. Ryan’s still pretty upset at what Geoff’s done… For two reasons.

He’s upset that Geoff did that _period_. And usually Ryan’s uncaring towards the lives they’ve ruined- but this is different. Now he’s taking care of the person whose live they’ve ruined… and it feels like the tables have turned.

And he’s also upset about Gavin.

That’s a little self-explanatory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to that person who left a comment a few chapters ago about Dan’s dog-tags. I’ve currently forgotten their name but shout out to them, I think you know who you are… since you are the only one who’s asked about them.


	26. Interlude IV- Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Dan come to the house where Dan breathed his final breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope to god that after this chapter there’s some lighter fluff. But the more I write angst the more I want to write angst… So I’ll try my best to get fluff in… I’ll try.

Their car slowed to a stop in front of the house; the house that they had just bought.

“Dan…” Gavin whispered, clutching his (then) boyfriend’s hand. “This is it.”

Dan turns the engine off and looks at where Gavin’s looking. They’re both looking up at their new house, with all of the unpacked boxes and big, bulky furniture inside.

“Yeah,” Dan exhales, squeezing Gavin’s hand before letting go so he can get out. The two get out of the car, and start to walk up the driveway.

“This is it, yeah?” Gavin repeats, glancing over at Dan.

“I guess it is,” Dan smiles warmly, and Gavin matches the smile. “We’ve finally got a house…”

_What Gavin didn’t know is that Dan would propose only a week later._

It took a while to get moved in.

They painted the walls of the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom ( _Gavin refused to live in a house with all of the walls white)._ They then had to unpack all of their boxes; all of their clothes, all of their small pieces of furniture like lamps, pictures, and their bookcase. Then they had to unpack their kitchen, living room, and bedroom. The guest bedrooms were the easiest to do, but those rooms were done last.

And when the final box was thrown away, Gavin cheered.

“We’re all moved in!” He chanted, three weeks after moving in.

Dan laughed softly, pulling Gavin close to him. “It’s nice, yeah,” Dan whispered as he slowly pressed his lips against Gavin’s. Gavin happily kissed back, leaning into Dan’s warm touch and lips.

When the kiss broke a minute later, Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Want to… you know… Christen the place?”

Dan couldn’t help but laugh, but he nodded a little and started to pull Gavin towards the stairwell in the hall. “Yeah- we did that weeks ago, but now we’re actually done.”

Gavin laughs lightly, toeing off his shoes at the base of the stairs before letting Dan pull him up to their bedroom.

_To make a long story short, they did ‘it’._

The next morning, Dan was flipping pancakes by the stove when Gavin padded downstairs in only sweatpants that rested low on his hips.

“Good morning,” Dan turned and pulled his boyfriend into a side-hug. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah… Room feels ‘lot better when it’s not full of boxes,” Gavin’s accent is a little thicker as he slowly wakes up. He presses a kiss to Dan’s cheek before pulling away to get a glass of water to rid the dryness in his mouth.

“Mm…” Dan hums, and slides two slightly overdone pancakes onto a plate. A few minutes ago, when he heard the faint steps of Gavin walking to the bathroom, he set the butter and syrup on the table. He knew what Gavin liked on his pancakes, and wanted to be sweet to his boyfriend.

“Here ya go,” Dan slides the plate in front of Gavin, who had sat down after getting a glass of water.

“Thanks B,” Gavin smiled sleepily as he reached for the syrup bottle. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Dan smiled affectionately, and lightly kissed Gavin on the lips before going back to the stove to make more pancakes.

_Their first morning in the house…_

Gavin remembers when he moved into his house with Dan…

He remembers them painting the walls of the living room and Dan decided it’d be funny to splatter some paint onto Gavin… And they were lucky their furniture was covered in cloth and they were going to redo the carpet; paint got _everywhere_.

They were also lucky that all of the walls were going to one color.

But he also remembers the argument over the shag rug in their bedroom.

Dan had insisted on putting a rug in, and Gavin had argued over the fact that shag carpet, while soft, gets dirty and it’ll be hard to clean.

But after a few days at the childish argument full of little quips and sharp remarks, Dan won the argument. If they got shag carpet, then Dan would let Gavin hang photos in the hallway. And Gavin had agreed, since he was annoyed with the blank walls in the hall and all of their posters were going into the living room in frames.

The Brit remembers a lot about moving in.

He remembers all the small compromises on what thing should go where, and _‘no, we can’t put the dresser next to the bed, it has to go under the window’,_ and such silly sounding arguments that made sense at the time.

He remembers a lot about moving in, and it all slowly comes back into his mind on the second day of staying in the house.

He hears the shower running in the bathroom in the hall upstairs, and the sounds of his xbox in the living room, and the chattering of Jack on the phone with someone from the B-Team. As he stands there and turns the chattering, the shower, and the video games, into white noise; he remembers the small memories that made up moving into this house.

While he’s happy to be back, the memories make the moment bittersweet.

But a small smile is on his lips, and he finally feels at home.

_He finally feels like he belongs._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now that wasn’t too bad- was it? A small break from the angst…


	27. November 15th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin finally asked for what the date was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I keep saying I’ll do fluff to balance out all of the angst I’ve been dishing out… but I had this thought a few days ago and…. And I couldn’t help it. And I also realized I have never really worded how much time has passed. I’ve literally only written ‘weeks’ as how much time has passed…
> 
> Also, apologies, this chapter is on the short side ‘cause the only idea I had for this chapter was... Well, you’ll find out. But that’s the only idea I had so this is on the shorter side! Apologies!

“What’s today’s date?” Gavin asks, standing in the doorway and holding the Dalmatian calendar ( _Gavin had convinced Dan to buy it_ ) he had hanging in the kitchen. The last day with an ‘x’ over it had been August 11th, the day that had started this whole thing. And he knew it wasn’t August anymore. It was far too cold to be August.

The weather was getting colder and the days were getting shorter. Now while it was a little too warm in Los Santos for snow in any month but January, Gavin felt like winter was coming early this year.

“It’s…” Jack pulls out his phone, and glances down at the date in the corner of the screen. “November 15th.”

Jack then looks up at Gavin, who has the calendar in hand, and a black fine-tip sharpie to cross off the days. But he’s paused, staring down at the November page of the calendar. His eyes were staring at a date in the middle of the calendar, one with big, bold, red letters to stand out from the rest of the dates marked in only small black print.

The red letters fill up the whole box of November 15th, while the rest only take up a little bit of the box. The red letters were supposed to stick out…

‘ ** _WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!!!_ ’**

That’s what had been written, and Gavin let out a sharp sound, somewhere between a breath and a gasp, before turning on his heel and swiftly walking back into the kitchen. Unaware of what’s going on; Jack pushes himself up off the couch to follow the Brit back into the kitchen.

“Gavin,” Jack stepped into the kitchen, and saw Gavin furiously trying to cover up the red letters with the black ink from the sharpie. But it wasn’t working- the sharpie he had was a fine-tip one that did almost nothing to cover the red letters. His mad scribbles to cover up the letters only made them stand out more- bold red letters trying to be covered by black…

“What’s going on?” Jack bit his lip nervously.

The bearded man stepped closer, trying to look at the calendar that Gavin had sprawled across the counter-top. One glance at the calendar from over Gavin’s shoulder, and he saw what was going on that had Gavin so upset.

“Gav- I’m sorry,” Jack set a hand on Gavin’s shoulder, but the Brit flinched and shrugged the hand away.

“Shut up,” Gavin hissed, dropping the sharpie suddenly and whipping around to face Jack. “Shut up! I’m supposed to be getting _married_ today!”

Jack didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to say about the tears welling up in Gavin’s eyes, or the angry expression he had on.

“You don’t know what it _feels_ like to stare at a date you’ve been looking forward to for your entire life; then have it taken away from you! You don’t _know_!” Gavin hisses. He doesn’t even realize that there’s a tear slowly trickling down his cheek.

Jack’s silent still, and he studies Gavin with a shocked look. He’s one of the few in the house that hasn’t been on the other side of Gavin’s anger. Ever since Jack had introduced himself in the guest bedroom of their apartment downtown, Gavin has never had his anger faced towards Jack.

“I’m supposed to be walking down the _fucking_ aisle ready to get married to the love of my life,” Gavin’s shoulders started to deflate as his anger slowly faded away. “I’m supposed to be… I’m supposed to be getting married…”

Gavin’s head drops, and that’s when Jack makes an action. He carefully pulls the Brit into a hug. “It’ll be okay…” He doesn’t even know why he’s saying that- he doesn’t know if Gavin will ever find someone to love like he did with Dan again. He doesn’t know what’ll happen…

“I don’t even know where my ring is,” Gavin whimpers softly, resting his head on Jack’s shoulder.

And Jack doesn’t know where Gavin’s ring is either. He doesn’t know….

_And it kills him_.

It’s a long time before Gavin calms down, and after spending a good chunk of time standing in Jack’s embrace in the kitchen, the bearded man leads Gavin up to bed so the Brit can take a nap. It takes some work to convince Gavin to relax and sleep- but Jack gets Gavin to after some heavy convincing… and then Jack stands in the doorway and sighs softly.

He thinks about what the day was, and how all of the planning Gavin had put into the wedding had been scraped… And he hopes that things will be better soon…

But when Geoff’s still stuck in the middle, and the Cockbites are a few steps behind them; the thought of everything getting better soon is small.

When Jack pads back downstairs a little while later, Geoff’s standing in the kitchen, in front of that _damn_ calendar. Jack doesn’t even feel guilty as he rolls his eyes ( _he’s still not over what Geoff told them a few days ago and honestly he doesn’t know when and_ if _he’ll be over it_ ).

“Can’t believe it,” Geoff sighs, running a hand through his hair while the other is lying flat on the counter.

“Can’t believe what, Geoff?” Jack’s voice is flat, unlike the soft tone he used for Gavin. “That we, or really, _you_ , did this to him? Or that time has gone by so quickly?”

“I don’t know,” Geoff’s shoulders droop as he looks up from the calendar. He looks over his shoulder, to Jack, and the bearded man’s slightly annoyed expression and crossed arms. “Both… I guess.”

There’s a few moments of silence before Jack sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

“I still can’t believe you did that,” Jack shook his head. “We were perfectly happy.”

Geoff doesn’t say anything, and just looks a tad confused now. He turns to face Jack.

“We were perfectly happy… and… and I thought we were going somewhere.”

“There isn’t anywhere to go but down.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you…?”

“You slept with Michael, he spent the night in your bed, and Ryan had spent the night with Ray.”

Geoff raises an eyebrow in confusion, and Jack scoffs. It’s obvious that Geoff doesn’t know what point Jack is trying to make.

“Are you _that_ oblivious?” Jack, for once, doesn’t care about the sass and snarkiness in his voice. He doesn’t care about how rude he sounds. And Geoff _still_ looks confused.

“I thought we were going to do something,” Jack puts a palm against his own jaw and rubs a little. “I thought we were actually going somewhere with… _us_.”

Geoff’s finally starting to piece it together- and he parts his lips to speak, but Jack cuts him off.

“And then you threw a wrench in it- and now I can’t believe that I… that I still feel like I should…” Jack shakes his head, and turns around to leave the kitchen.

And Geoff wants to follow Jack and tell him to finish… but he can’t find the courage to. What Jack had said had made him think.

Back when they had first brought Gavin into their apartment downtown, the five of them had been going somewhere.

Michael and Ray practically sat in each other’s laps when they played games together, Michael and him had shared a kiss on the last night Michael had joined him in his bed, Ryan and Ray had shared a bed, and they all shared looks and touches that had something more than friendship in them…

Geoff had his realization.

Right there, in the middle of Gavin’s kitchen,

He realized.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized I haven’t mentioned relationships between the crew in months… So I figured I should start to pull them all together. So I’m really sorry- but hey, the story is tagged as ‘slow build’ and now I’m seriously living up to that tag… BUT THE RELATIONSHIPS ARE COMING, I SWEARRRRR!


	28. It Spreads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They’re all starting to realize.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dude remember when i put in the tags that this fic is ot6. well i’m getting there i swear. Also, apologies about all the dialogue- but it’s key to the story I swear.
> 
> ALSO, I AM SOOOO SORRY THAT THIS IS A FEW DAYS LATE, my internet crashed and my computer was incapable of doing anything! So here is the next chapter. ALSO- I’m starting high school in about two days, so writing will be a little difficult since I’ve been warned about all of the work from my brother. But stick with me and PLEASE be patient, I’m trying my best!

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

A voice draws Geoff out of the train of thought he’s in. Blinking a few times rapidly, he looks at the doorway, and there stands Ray.

He hasn’t talked to Ray much since they left the last safe house. The tattooed man hasn’t found the real courage to speak to anybody, and it’s not like Ray was _dying_ to talk to him.

“What…?” Geoff sounds breathless, and Ray dryly chuckles as he pads across the kitchen to the fridge.

“You’re pale as fuck with your eyes wide.” He pulls at the fridge door, and grabs a soda from inside. Cracking open the can, he turns back towards Geoff. “You okay?”

“Yeah- ‘m fine,” Geoff nods a little, sighing through his nose and trying his best to relax, and play it off. But Ray’s not buying it; he sips at his soda quite loudly and raises an eyebrow. That makes Geoff melt a little. After all that heavy thinking… he can’t help but notice every little feature about Ray.

“I’ve… I’ve just been thinking,” Geoff takes a step back, leaning against the counter-top. Ray comes over and stands next to Geoff, nursing the chilly soda can between his palms. “About… About us, I guess.”

“What about us?” Ray tilts his head to the side, and he glances over at Geoff before looking back at the wall. But he’s not really looking; his vision goes out of focus and he pays attention to Geoff’s words.

“You know- where we all were before this all started,” the tattooed man explains softly. But it’s not exactly the explanation Ray’s looking for.

“Three months ago?” Ray’s voice is soft. “Geoff…”

“I don’t know if this could even work,” Geoff sighs.

“What the hell does that mean?” Ray blinks a few times and his vision focuses as his eyes dart over to Geoff. His boss has on a worried expression, and it sends a small prick of worry through Ray.

“Gavin’s still… Still grieving…” Geoff runs a hand through his hair. At the words, Ray almost lets his soda can slip between his fingers.

“What the _fuck_?” It comes out harsh without Ray really even meaning to- and it makes Geoff splutter, but Ray catches his words first.

“So you not only want the four of us, you want… You want… _Gavin_?” Ray’s eyes squint a little, his eyebrows furrowing.

Geoff’s silent, and Ray slowly nods.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he shakes his head. “He’s too busy grieving.”

Ray doesn’t even let Geoff respond; he shakes his head and pads out of the kitchen. That leaves Geoff to sigh and curse himself.

Yeah- Ray’s right.

Like Gavin would fall in love with the people who killed his fiancé…

_Like that was going to happen_.

 

At the same time Geoff’s talking to Ray, Jack’s standing on the back patio. He’s sitting in one of the deck chairs that decorate the decently sized patio.

It’s definitely not the time of year to be sitting out on the patio; but right now it feels like the only place in the house where he can get a moment alone.

Sighing, he runs a hand through his hair. His ginger hair is growing long and shaggy… He’ll have to cut it soon—he makes a note of it.

His eyes go up to the sky; which is cloudless but there’s some smog. It’s not as bad as it would be if they were closer to the city, but there’s still smog.

A chilly breeze fills the air, and Jack can’t help but shiver. It’s getting to be winter, and while winters in Los Santos aren’t too bad, there’s still a chill in the air. And just as he relaxes into the deck chair, he hears the soft squeak of the sliding door opening.

Out steps Ryan; and Jack’s not bothered by the blond’s presence.

Ryan’s respectful of boundaries, and he’s always understanding. He makes sure Jack has some space, and he leans against the deck railing.

“Geoff’s… Geoff’s talking to Ray, I heard a little bit about it…” Ryan’s voice is soft and with the wind in his ears, Jack has to sit up to hear. “They’re… talking about all of us.”’

“I wasn’t talking about Gavin,” Jack licks his lips, and Ryan raises an eyebrow.

“Oh… Well Geoff’s certainly thinking about Gavin…” Ryan trails off like he wants to say something else, but he doesn’t. And one concerned look from Jack, and he’s sighing. “I think that there’s something between me and him.”

“What do you mean?” Jack’s concern turns into confusion.

“Jack, I slept with him in my arms for over two months,” Ryan runs a hand through his unbrushed hair. “I’ve… I’ve been thinking about this too; about all of us. And I think that after we take out the Cockbites we could be something.”

“How long could that take?” Jack doesn’t notice that he’s tilted his head to the side, and Ryan doesn’t respond for a long time.

With his palms on the railing, Ryan looks up at the sky, and he sighs deeply.

“I don’t know how long that could take.”

He hears the deck chair shift, and he sees Jack stand up. His eyes come down from the sky, and lock with Jack’s.

“I don’t know how long it would take either… but…” Jack steps in front of Ryan, and raises a hand. Despite being calloused, his touch is feather-light and soft as he gently cups Ryan’s cheek. “But I don’t think I can wait anymore.”

Ryan slowly nods. “I’ve been thinking about this for months, Jack.”

“I have too,” Jack’s eyes flash a look; a look that’s asking for silent permission. Ryan cracks a smile, and nods a little.

_The two lean forward, and their lips connect._

 

Gavin’s eyes slowly open.

The room is dark, the sun long gone, and he’s alone.

Slowly, he sits up. The sheets fall down to his waist, and he instinctually looks at the other side of the bed. But it’s empty, like it has been lately.

His feet hit the floor, and he stretches his arms above his head and listens to his back crack softly. Sighing happily, he pushes himself off the bed and pads into the connecting bathroom. He flicks on the light, turning on the sink to get a drink of water to get the sleep-breath taste out of his mouth. But his eyes flicker to look up in the mirror.

One look at that mirror, and he freezes; there’s dark circles under his eyes, and his eyes have a flat expression. But that’s how he’s been looking lately...

Then he hears a knock on the bathroom door that takes his eyes off the mirror.

“Gav?” It’s Michael, and Gavin turns around. “Dinner’s ready…”

“I’ll be down in a minute,” Gavin raises his voice to be heard through the door, and when he hears footsteps going back into the hall, he sighs.

He glances at the mirror out of the corner of his eye, and then he opens the door. Turning the light off behind him, he pads down to the kitchen.

At the kitchen table sits the five criminals.

But it’s different…

Jack and Ryan are sitting next to each other and they share a look that has something in it that Gavin can't identify, and Ray’s glancing at all of them with a thoughtful look. Michael’s got a glint of confusion in his eyes.

Geoff, for once, is smiling as he slides six plates full of food onto the table, two at a time.

Gavin gives the five a quick look before he grabs the glass set on the table so he can get some water. When he sits back down, he watches all of them carefully as he eats.

There’s something going on… and he can’t figure it out.

But before he can think too deeply, Michael brings up something about the Cockbites and the B-Team and Gavin tries his best to listen.

Now that they’re hiding away in his house, he wants to try and understand what’s actually going on.

But he can’t help it—he thinks about what’s going on between Ryan and Jack, why Geoff’s smiling for once, and why Ray is glancing at all of them.

He doesn’t realize what’s going on, _it_ , just yet.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies about this one being fairly short.. but heeeeeeey there’s some serious shit in this!!


	29. Interlude V- Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all started with a phone call from a private caller.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I originally planned to have a full chapter up today, but I woke up to find a FABULOUS comment in my inbox, so I decided to roll with the interlude-idea that I got from reading that. Also, this has a completely different set-up than all of the other interludes… eeeeh this is important stuff anyway.

This had all started with a phone call from a private caller.

Dan’s phone started to ring just as he was walking home from work.

He didn’t work for the Cockbites—no, he was still in England, with Gavin waiting at home in their flat. On that day, while still in England, he’d been working for anybody who would hire him. Today, he was working with some small time crew where their name was changing every other week; he had been hired to help with a small-time heist that ended up being less money that Dan had been promised.

But his phone started to ring as he was walking down the sidewalk, a street away from their flat. He gave it one confused look, the number blocked, but he answered it anyway.

“Hello…?” His eyebrows furrowed as he slowed to a stop.

“Dan Gruchy?” A male voice on the other side spoke, and Dan just got more confused.

“Yes, that’s me…” His eyes started to scan the street, but there was nothing standing out. The street wasn’t crowded; less than a handful of people walking down the sidewalk and a car passing by every minute or so.

“Mr. Gruchy,” the voice has a tone that sounds… _smug_. “I’m aware that you’ve been doing jobs with small crews… But I have a job proposition for you.”

Dan doesn’t say a word, he’s sort of shocked honestly, and the voice continues.

“Have you heard of the Cockbites?”

Dan finds his words, but they come out with a hint of nervousness. “Yes, of course.”

“Well, I have a job for you,” the voice chuckles a little, and Dan starts to walk again.

“Can I ask who I’m speaking to?” Dan can’t help but scan the nearly empty street again. There’s no one around, it’s just him.

“Burnie Burns,” the voice takes on a lilt that almost _definitely_ sounds like the person’s smirking.

And at the name, Dan holds back a sharp inhale, and instead he bites his bottom lip.

“How can I help you Burns?” Dan tries to sound calm—talking to Burns makes his heart rate pick up and his hands start to go sticky with sweat.

“Well, it seems I’m a little short on mercenaries, and I, _personally_ , would like to have you instead of anybody else.”

“But… Aren’t you based in Los Santos? Mr. Burns I don’t live in L-”

“Oh I’m aware. You live in a little flat just outside of London with your boyfriend.”

Dan takes in a shaky breath, and he reaches the end of the street, turning right onto the street that he lives on. Only a few buildings down, he can see his flat.

“If you accept this job, you and your boyfriend will be flown here, and any place you choose to live will be paid for,” Burnie offers. “And, your pay will be over double of anything you will earn if you stay in England.”

There’s a minute of silence from Burnie as Dan thinks about this. “Will… Will Gavin be okay…? Safe, I mean, will he?”

“Well that’s up to you to decide. If you haven’t heard, Los Santos isn’t exactly the safest place to live, Mr. Gruchy.”

Dan’s silent for a few seconds as he stops in front of his flat, looking up at the three windows that are in his flat, and he sighs softly. “I’ll have to talk about it with Gavin…”

“I’ll call back in three days, if you don’t have a decision by then, then the offer is gone. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Good, I’ll be getting back in touch with you soon, Gruchy.”

And Dan’s phone beeps, signaling the end of the call.

He looks guilty as he looks up at the flat as he holds his phone in his hand.

He doesn’t know how Gavin’s going to take this, moving halfway across the world… Sure—his boyfriend keeps saying he wants to move out of their small flat and into an actual house, but they haven’t found the time to think about it lately. They’ve just been too busy with Dan working, and Gavin being so drained because of his dead-end job….

But it makes his stomach curl and tie itself into a knot as he looks up at their flat and thinks about all of this. He’d love to go to Los Santos and work for Burnie… it would give them tons of money that would keep them happy… but it was also just moving across the world that was the biggest con to this idea.

He wants to do this… but he can’t without Gavin.

_And he doesn’t know how Gavin will take it._

Gavin is told at dinner that night, but Dan hides it with a lie.

He says that he’s been given a job offer in Los Santos that is double what he’s earning now. It’s a ‘job with the LSPD’ like the lie he’s been using for a long time now. The lie of he’s working with the police, instead of working against them.

And Gavin squeals, launching up from his seat to hug Dan.

“Oh my god! This is amazing!” His reaction surprises Dan. Dan’s eyes go wide, but then he hugs back his boyfriend.

“You… Aren’t upset with moving?” Dan’s eyebrows furrow and Gavin shakes his head furiously.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Los Santos! And you know I’ve wanted to move for a long time,” he laughs lightly. “When do we get to move?”

“I… I don’t know that yet, soon I bet.” Dan really doesn’t know, but that seems to make Gavin happy.

“Finally! I get to quit,” Gavin pulls away. “I hate it there.”

While in England, he’d been a waiter at a restaurant, and he absolutely _hated_ it, but only stuck with it because there was nowhere else to work in their area. So the news of being able to move away made him excited, to say the least.

“And think about it, we could finally buy a house,” Gavin smiles, and it feels like all of Dan’s worries about this vanish. He smiles, and slips his hand into Gavin’s.

“Yeah, we can finally buy a house,” Dan agrees. “We’ll have a big yard, with space to finally have a cat.”

“Or dog!” Gavin chimes in, and Dan chuckles.

“Yeah, and a dog.”

_The two share a smile and a short, sweet, chaste kiss._

Gavin bites his lip, standing in the grocery store, in front of the aisle for pet supplies.

He finds it silly a second later, shaking his head and pushing the shopping cart past the aisle.

Dan had said that they would get a dog or cat all those months ago, and he sighed softly as he walked over to the milk.

He knew now the truth of why they had moved, and while he wasn’t upset that they had moved across the world, he was upset that Dan hadn’t told him the truth of why they were moving…

But Gavin shakes his head, ridding the thoughts from his head as he picks up a jug of milk. The Brit doesn’t want to get all emotional while standing in the middle of the grocery store—he doesn’t want that right now.

Too much is going on to think about that…

And his phone buzzing with a text message only helps push the thoughts away further.

He pulls it out, chuckling a little when he sees its Ray reminding him to pick up more Doritos because Michael just ate the last of them.

He won’t actually realize this for a few more days, but he’s getting better.

And that’s a good thing.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> teaser for later chapters, what fun!


	30. Discussions in the Kitchen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s time to have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No spoilers—anything I say is a spoiler.

Its three days of radio silence between the five criminals.

They don’t talk about it; they don’t show any signal or evidence that they’ve discussed it. All they shared in those three days is looks behind Gavin’s back.

Michael had figured it out, asking Ray the second dinner was over and Gavin had left the room. Ray had responded, and later that night Michael would think about it.

During those three days, the five all knew, and they shared the same thoughts.

But they held it in—they didn’t say anything to Gavin, or to anyone else. They kept it in, thinking it over and trying to come to terms with it.

They were all thinking the same thing.

_I love five other men._

Gavin didn’t ask, but he was noticing that something was up with the five men.

Geoff was acting calmer; more open and relaxed around them all. The awkwardness that covered him like fog was gone, and he could actually relax now and sit with all of them in the living room, on the couch instead of awkwardly standing in the doorway.

Jack shared small smiles with the guys, and looked all around happier. Instead of having worry constantly clouding his eyes; his eyes shined as he smiled. He was smiling for real now, not just having a smile on his lips to appear happy.

Ray was more open too; smiling and joking instead of being silent and watching everyone interact, talk, and mess around. He was coming out of his shell, in a sense.

Michael was blushing more; his cheeks turning a nice pink whenever anyone said something that sounded anywhere _near_ a flirty move. He blushed whenever one of the guys touched him; whether it be his arm, shoulder, knee, or anywhere else.

Ryan was like Ray; opening up, but more in the physical sense. He wasn’t as awkward as he was before. If he bumped into Gavin or anybody else, he wouldn’t pull away like the touch burned him, but instead he’d apologize and smile a little.

_Gavin definitely knew something was up- but he didn’t know what._

Gavin had gone out to get groceries; he’d asked if anyone was willing to go with him, and each time he got a weird look and some variation of ‘no’.

Geoff had told him he was going to take a shower; Jack had said no thank you; both Ray and Michael said they were in the middle of a mission in one of the games Gavin owned, and Ryan had politely shaken his head and said that he was just about to go for a walk.

Gavin’s eyebrows furrowed as he grabbed his keys and slipped on his shoes. The Brit walked down the driveway, taking one of the cars they had stolen, and then given to the B-Team to change the plates.

He didn’t know that Ryan was watching from the window, and the second Gavin’s car disappeared down the street, the blond got up and moved into the kitchen.

The four men followed all taking positions in the kitchen.

That morning, Ryan had murmured that they should have a talk later, and Gavin tilted his head and asked what they needed to talk about. Ryan had felt guilty when he waved Gavin off saying it was crew business—but at least Gavin understood and didn’t look hurt.

Now they stood there, in the kitchen.

Geoff was leaning against the counter, next to Jack who was biting his lip. Ray and Michael took a spot at the kitchen table, while Ryan couldn’t help but pace.

“So…” Geoff starts awkwardly, scratching at the stubble that was covering his jaw. They all share a semi-awkward look before Michael clears his throat.

“So I guess we all know what’s going on,” Michael runs a hand through his hair, tugging a little when he gets stuck at a knot. Beside him, Ray nods a bit.

“I guess we’re all into each other?” The Puerto Rican is blunt, making Ryan stop pacing to crack a smile, and Jack and Geoff to chuckle a little. Michael smiles the brightest, and Ray mirrors the smile.

“Yeah, I guess we are,” Ryan turns to face all of them. There’s a beat of silence before Jack purses his lips then speaks.

“How are we going to do this?” He gets a pointed look from Geoff before he clarifies. “I mean, there’s five of us… and… _Gavin—_ ” Jack pauses and everyone’s smiles fade at the thought “— and I don’t think we want to tell him.”

Ray scratches the back of his head. “I mean, we aren’t going to go into that bullshit honey-moon phase crap, right?”

Michael shrugs, and Ryan bites his lip.

“I mean, if you think about it, we’re all acting like we’re already in a relationship. We share beds, and I’m positive that we’ve all shared some kisses…” The blond watches Jack look up from the tile floor at him, and Michael and Geoff share a look out of the corners of their eyes.

Yep- they’ve _definitely_ shared some kisses.

“We’re basically just redefining all of this… and mixing in some sex,” Ryan’s voice takes a small, nervous lilt. But Ray snorts and Michael chuckles. But Ryan’s nervous expression disappears a minute later when he sees Michael and Ray share a bright smile, and Jack slip his hand into Geoff’s.

But as much as Geoff likes Jack’s hand in his, he pulls away and sighs a little.

“And what are we going to do about me?”

The tattooed man suddenly has four pairs of eyes on him.

“I mean… I lied to all of you guys, and I don’t think Gavin trusts me just… just yet.” Geoff brings up a good point, and their smiles all fade; getting replaced with an array of worry, nervousness, guilt, and… _fear_.

“He’s right,” Ryan murmurs. “Can we make a promise?”

The eyes shift from Geoff to Ryan, and they’re all confused, even Geoff.

“Well… Make a promise, of no lies…” Ryan tails off, scratching the back of his neck nervously. “I mean, like… We’ve all have our secrets and pasts… But if this is going to work, we’ll need to communicate.”

Jack hops on board with the idea, nodding a little. And it seems that with two of them on board with the idea, the other three will follow.

“Okay,” Geoff’s the last to nod. “I’ll… I’ll still have to talk to you guys about that… But I want Gavin to be around. He’s the one who deserves to hear the full truth the most.”

“You mean you weren’t finished?” Ray whispers, and the tattooed man bites his lip and nods with a guilty expression.

“Yeah…” Geoff whispers. “But… I’ll tell you guys soon, okay? Just… Just don’t worry about it right now.”

There’s a few beats of silence, and they all glance away with some level of awkwardness in their expressions. But then, Michael cracks a smile.

“So does that mean I’m finally able to kiss you guys without the need to say ‘no homo’?” It’s a joke, obviously. It does work wonders, because they all start to laugh and smile.

“Yeah,” Ray nods, and he’s the first one out of the five to get a kiss. Michael cups Ray’s cheeks and pulls him into a kiss on the lips.

Ryan felt a tug on his hand, and he glanced up to see Jack trying to pull him close. The two cracked twin smiles, and leaned forward for a kiss.

_That led to a chain of kisses between the five_.

 

Gavin’s pulling into the driveway about fifteen minutes later, and he’s opening the trunk of the car when the front door opens; it’s Michael, coming out to help Gavin.

While Gavin’s happy with the help, he’s slightly confused. Michael’s eyes are shining like he’s got the sun in his eyes, and his smile isn’t forced at all or fake. It’s not a smile Gavin’s used to; not opposed to it, just not used to it.

The suspicion and confusion Gavin has only raises when he gets to the kitchen, and the rest of the guys are standing around with twin smiles. Ray and Ryan are at the table, and Geoff and Jack are leaning against the counter.

Something’s happened—that’s all that Gavin has so far as he starts to put away the food. Michael’s the only one helping him.

It’s when he leaves that the smiles start to fade. Geoff’s smile disappears first.

“I… I’m worried about him… It’s been three months since…” It’s a whisper, but all of the guys manage to hear it.

And that’s a thought they all share. It’s been just a little over three months since Dan’s death, and while Gavin’s been doing visibly better, they can’t read the Brit’s mind. They can’t tell if Gavin’s still grieving or not.

The thought replaces the happiness from their discussion—but luckily Michael’s determined to keep the day happy and he cracks a joke that makes Ray snort and Ryan’s smile appear again.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yaaaaaaaay romance!


	31. Discussions at Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heavy topics are almost always brought up at the dinner table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many dialogue heavy chapters, jesus…

Even though they all cracked a smile and laughed before ending their discussion; the thought of Gavin stuck with them.

It’s been a little over three months since they first brought Gavin into their lives, and three months since Dan’s… unfortunate… _ending_. And now, at this point in time, they weren’t sure about how Gavin was feeling; if he was still grieving or not; or whether it was okay or not to bring up what they were all thinking.

But they ended their conversation in the kitchen; sharing one last look before moving out of the kitchen. Geoff, Michael, and Ray went into the living room, Jack turned and started to make dinner, and then Ryan went to go take a shower or something.

They don’t say anything about what they talked about in the kitchen for a while.

_Not for a few days; at least._

 

Gavin’s just starting to catch onto what’s going on; he’s starting to see.

He’s starting to see that Geoff’s eyes aren’t filled with awkwardness or guilt when he looks at the others; he’s seeing more of Ryan’s teeth in his smiles; he’s seeing Jack’s naturally-motherly instincts practically _double_ ; he’s seeing Michael’s yelling at Ray are sounding more affectionate than playfully angry, and he’s seeing pink on Ray’s cheeks and shy, awkward looks that look like something out of a cheesy, teen-romance movie.

And then Geoff brings up what the five criminals had talked about in the kitchen a handful of days before. Just like every other heavy conversation they have; it’s during dinner nearly a week later. ( _Seriously, they need to stop bringing up such heavy topics during dinner.)_

“Hey, Gav,” Geoff glances over at Gavin, who is sitting on his right, the second there’s a lull in the conversation. Gavin looks up, and their eyes meet for a few seconds before Geoff looks back down at his plate.

“How are you feeling?” Geoff stabs a piece of lettuce from the salad Jack made to match with the pasta.

“Good…” Gavin’s confused, and it shows in his voice as he trails off.

“Well, uh, I meant about… your…” Geoff trails off, and Gavin understands, finally. And by now, they’ve captured everyone’s attention; but no one but Geoff and Gavin are speaking.

“What about Dan…?” Gavin whispers, his fork freezing an inch above his plate. His voice is small, like he’s a child being scolded.

“Are you feeling better about that? It’s been three months...” Geoff trailed off, and _god,_ Jack wants to punch Geoff in the arm. Half the time, Geoff’s not good with emotional crap, and he can never word himself correctly _(there have been many conversations that have proven that)._

“Well, yeah,” Gavin looked down at his plate, his eyes wide with… _panic_? But then he looks up and his eyes are narrowing. “Why do you care…? Why are you bringing this up now?”

“I care about you Gav, we all do,” Geoff glances around the table, and they all nod in agreement. But that doesn’t appear to help Gavin, who still looks like he’s panicking. “And I’m bringing it up ‘cause I care.”

“What are you trying to say?” Gavin can’t help it—his voice quivers as his breathing starts to pick up. From across the table, Michael leans forward, setting his hand on Gavin’s free one, which is resting on the table.

“We’re worried about you.” Michael’s voice is soft, but Gavin pulls his hand away like Michael’s touch burns him. Michael tries to not flinch at Gavin’s nearly terrified expression; they all try to not flinch.

“I’m fine!” Gavin cries out, and he doesn’t realize the hand that Michael touched is starting to shake like an earthquake. “I’m completely okay! I’m over Dan… I know he won’t come back, I know he’s dead!”

Jack bites his lip—he’s about to speak but Ray beats him to it.

“I don’t think being in this house is helping you,” Ray glances around the kitchen, and Gavin scoffs.

“Being here isn’t doing anything negative! I haven’t cried in a while, right?” Gavin bites his tongue, and sure, he cried a little over a week ago on the 15th, but other than that, he’s been pretty good.

“I’m okay! Really… I know he’s not coming back, and I know I should move on…” Gavin’s babbling now; not exactly knowing what to say. “But I’m okay, really…” He trails off, and then looks up from his plate.

Ryan and Jack are sharing a look, concerned and worried.

_What Gavin says next… he couldn’t help it._

 

“What’s going on between all of you?” He blurts out, dropping his fork onto his plate of pasta and alfredo sauce, and all eyes are suddenly on Gavin. Five pairs of eyes are on him; their looks are a cocktail of panic, confusion, and… _fear_ …?

“There’s something going on! You are sharing looks, and whenever I come into a room you guys always get quiet like you have some secret!” Gavin looks more frustrated than panicked right now. And of course, no one knows what to say to the Brit.

“There’s something going on, and I want to know,” Gavin angrily picks up his fork to stab at a noodle. Ryan’s looking uneasy as he chews on his bottom lip. Then, he shares a look with Jack, who has a look almost perfectly mirroring Ryan’s.

Nervously, Ryan parted his lips. “Well… We talked about it a week ago… And we’re all together— in a romantic way.”

Ray awkwardly coughed, not really knowing what to say, and Gavin’s frustration dissipated in seconds.

“We were… sort of getting there before we met you?” Ray shrugged as he shifted in his chair, trying to figure out what to say as he started speaking. “Yeah… and then we sort of took a breather? And yeah… we talked about it…”

Gavin now feels left out, for some reason that he hasn’t _quite_ figured out yet, and he just nods a little. “Okay… I’m happy for you guys; congrats… But I’m okay, alright? I know Dan’s not coming back, and I… I figured that you guys would keep me around anyway…”

“Well, yeah,” Michael nodded a little. “We’re still sorry about that… Taking you and sort of ruining everything.”

“It’s alright,” Gavin shakes his head, and this time he didn’t stab a noodle angrily. “I think I’m… Happier? Like— it was either this, or I’d be living a lie.”

It took a few seconds for everyone to understand what Gavin had meant, and then they slowly nodded.

Gavin was completely right; either he would be living a lie with Dan, or he would be with them. As harsh as it sounds, it was the truth; a lifetime of blissful living, not knowing that most of it was lies, or this; being in this house with five dangerous criminals sitting around him and feeling domestic as they ate dinner.

And there’s a few minutes of silence as they continue to eat because no one really knows what to say. But none of the six men are upset with the silence, or intend to break it.

Just when Jack stands to start clearing the dishes, and Ryan stands too to put away the left overs, Gavin speaks again.

“I actually like home like this… It feels… lively.” Gavin whispers.

They all hear him, but no one says anything; Geoff gets up, putting a hand on Gavin’s shoulder for a few seconds before walking back into the living room. Michael and Ray both smile at Gavin and the duo follows Geoff into the living room.

Ryan and Jack are at the counter, putting the leftovers in Tupperware containers and then placing them in the fridge; cleaning up the dishes and putting them on the little drying rack by the sink so they could dry.

In the end, Gavin’s the last in the kitchen, and it doesn’t bother him surprisingly.

He likes hearing the talking in the other room and the sounds of the TV. It’s much livelier than before.

Before, he’d be sitting at home, waiting for Dan to come home. The only sounds would be the TV, where he was usually playing some video game, and the only light would be the lamp on the end table. The only other sounds would be maybe the washing machine humming or just the house settling and creaking.

And even when Dan was home, it still felt big and spacious.

Gavin felt guilty for thinking this, but he felt like Dan had been pulling away as they started to plan their wedding. He would come home later, and push away Gavin when he came home late and injured. When they went to sleep, it was Gavin who wanted to sleep close together. Whenever they were relaxing, Dan would agree with whatever Gavin wanted to do, and whenever Gavin asked about what _he_ wanted to do, he’d just agree with whatever was first suggested.

Despite planning a wedding together, Dan had made Gavin feel… unloved, and unnecessary. Gavin had felt like Dan was pulling away, and slowly, the Brit stood up from the table, and joined the five criminals in the living room.

He was tired of being alone; he wanted to be loved…

And he would be loved soon.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so we’ve learned that these guys just LOVE having heavy discussions while in the kitchen…


	32. Interlude VI- War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan decides to enlist in the army, and he doesn’t know how to tell Gavin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :I know the last interlude thing wasn’t that long ago… But eeeh I figured it was a good spot as I figure out where to go next. Also, I realized that the details of Dan and Gavin’s relationship may not be totally right, because while I am the author, I’ve been writing this for 8 months and I tend to forget things.

Dan had decided to enlist in the army a handful of months after their high school graduation, and he doesn’t know how to tell Gavin.

After their first kiss, they had officially labeled each other as ‘my boyfriend’, and gone on numerous dates. But other than that, not much had changed. The only addition to their friendship was kisses, more cuddles, and a few nights in bed with the door locked, hoping that their parents wouldn’t come home.

It was towards the end of summer when Dan had enlisted, and Gavin had recently picked up a job working at a local supermarket. And as the summer days started to cool and grow longer, and the trees slowly started to change their colors, Dan tried to figure out how to tell his boyfriend that he had enlisted, and could be called out any day.

_It was a month before Dan told Gavin._

“I’ve enlisted in the army,” Dan had said after telling Gavin he had some news. They were sitting in their small living room, on the couch, with Gavin still in his work uniform.

Gavin didn’t know how to respond.

“It… It was a month ago,” Dan stuttered, running a hand over his jaw, where short stubble was growing. “I… I didn’t know how to tell you, and now… I’ve been called out.”

Gavin’s eyes started to water. “W-Wh-hen are you l-leaving?”

“In a few weeks,” Dan whispered, he slowly pulled Gavin into a hug. His boyfriend started to shake as he softly, almost-silently cried.

Dan hadn’t regretted the decision he’s been thinking about for a month; and now he’s regretting the decision as Gavin cries in his arms.

“I’ll… I’ll be gone for a while… Two years, at least.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too…”

_And Dan got ready to leave._

Gavin hadn’t realized there were tears in his eyes until after he watched Dan board. He hadn’t realized that his hands were shaking, and he had a hand over his mouth to keep down sobs until after he watched Dan disappear down the walkway, wearing the uniform.

And that night, he realized how hard it was to sleep alone in their bed. He then learned how hard it was to deal with a silent apartment, with an empty side of the bed, an empty cushion on the couch, an empty chair at the kitchen table.

He learned how difficult it was to have a loved one in the army, fighting dangers with the high chance of dying.

He had learned the hard way.

Long sleepless nights and even longer lonely days; Gavin lived without Dan by his side for nearly two years, and then he glanced at the calendar.

When he had bought the calendar months and months ago, he had gone through and marked all the important days of the years- birthdays and anniversaries. All dates were marked in black sharpie, except for one that was marked in the thickest red sharpie Gavin could find.

Dan was coming home in a week, and he cracked a smile.

_The next week wasn’t so bad._

 

Gavin was crying once again, standing in the airport, waiting at baggage claim.

But he wasn’t sad; watching his boyfriend walk onto the plane. He was waiting for Dan with a smile on his lips and happy tears slowly welling up. And then he saw Dan—standing across the open space, wearing his full uniform, looking far more buff and tanned than he had when he left.

Their eyes connected, and the smiles they shared were perfectly in sync and matching.

Gavin was the one to practically sprint over, crashing into Dan and then catching him in a massive hug. Dan, who had gained a large amount of muscle, held Gavin up and kissed him square on the lips, for the first time in two years.

“I love you so much,” Gavin’s voice shook as he was set down a few minutes later, and he sniffled softly, a few tears escaping.

“I love you too,” Dan smiles, and he’s crying too. Usually, Gavin would wipe away the tears, but he can’t even think or function correctly. He’s too overwhelmed and overjoyed to see Dan again; after so long of being apart. It’s a miracle that he’s still standing, and able to talk.

The share another kiss, then Dan yawns, making Gavin laugh softly.

“Come on, I bet you miss your bed,” Gavin slips his hand into Dan’s, his other hand coming up to wipe away his tears. The tears have escaped, and there’s a few steadily rolling down his cheeks.

“Yeah, and I missed you… And being next to you…” Dan whispered, and started to lead Gavin over to the baggage carousel.

The whole way home, Gavin asks questions about what it was like to be away for two years, and in turn Dan asks questions about what’s been happening.

Dan responds with the beauty of the open sky in the desert, but also the looming fear of death. He says that it was hard to not hear Gavin’s voice or wake up with him next to him. It was hard in general, to have to face death all around him.

Gavin responds saying that he’s gotten a new job, working as a waiter now, and his co-workers are utter pricks… But he missed him too. It was difficult falling asleep without his arms or his deep breathing. He says it was hard, being so alone.

In the end, they get home and Dan flops straight into bed. Gavin laughs, of course, and kisses his boyfriend’s forehead before padding into the kitchen and starting to cook Dan’s favorite. And luckily, it’s Gavin’s day off and he gets to spend the entire day lying in bed with his boyfriend.

_They missed each other so much._

Gavin’s looking at the photo on the corner of the dresser when he breaks out of the memory.

The photo sitting there, in a black wooden frame, is a selfie that Dan took, in full uniform, of the sunset in the desert in the background. The photo stayed on the camera for a few months, Dan had told Gavin, and when he was able to print it, he did and left a note.

_‘I love you— and I wish you could see the sky. You’d love it._

_ <3<3’_

Slowly, Gavin sets the frame down, and he continues to get dressed; standing there in only jeans and socks.

With a small smile, he glances one last time at the photo before he leaves the room, shutting the door behind him.

It’s a step forward; he’s able to look at photos like that and not feel sad. Right now, it’s not sadness, but joy that he was that happy… And amazement, that Dan got to see something that pretty every day while he was stuck in rainy, dreary England.

But it’s enough of the memories for one night, and Gavin pads downstairs, walking into the living room to discover Michael playfully wrestling with Ray right in front of the TV, and Geoff wheezing and cackling on the couch.

His small smile brightens, and he sits down next to Geoff and asks why they’re fighting and getting dangerously close to putting an elbow through the TV.

Right now, Gavin’s better, and he’s still getting better.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is it just me or does it sound like I wrote this differently than I normally did?


	33. Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They receive a message; and then… They share a night together watching movies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… just because they’re getting together doesn’t mean it’s over… but hey- it gets cute I swear.

They receive a message two days later… and not the good kind.

Apparently, all of them had forgotten why they were in Gavin’s house in the first place; their thoughts clouded with their new-found relationship… and in Gavin’s sense; his thoughts are clouded with the five criminals and trying to get better.

But they receive a message two days later; delivered by a figure in all black, with a hood covering their face as they ring the doorbell then run off.

It’s so amateur that Geoff’s convinced it’s a ding-dong-ditch from the idiotic neighborhood teenagers as he looks out the window. But Jack’s the voice of reason and opens the door; murmuring that with how things have been lately, anything could be important.

_Turns out it is._

 

Ryan’s the first one to read it, and then it’s passed around. It’s Gavin who reads it last.

There’s a minute of silence as the five watch Gavin read it, and then slowly look up with fear filling his eyes. There’s not much on the letter, but it’s enough to spark fear.

_‘Sunday._

_2:15 AM_

_1567 Jamestown St._

_Be there.’_

That was it, no signature or anything. It wasn’t even stamped with the Cockbite logo. The letter was a piece of white printer paper, and if they were in any other situation Geoff would’ve thought it was a prank or something.

But they all knew who it was from. And they didn’t know what to do— the date was in two days and they had no weapons of any sorts, and no actual plan.

Geoff shared a look with Jack, who then shared a look with Ray. Michael and Ryan shared a look too, while Gavin sat there, staring out into space as he felt a pang of fear.

_Just when he thought things were getting better_.

 

“What are we going to do?”

They hadn’t visited the B-Team in a while; a month at least. And here they were, sitting in the warehouse across town with Lindsay, Kdin, Caleb, Kerry, Jeremey, and Matt sitting in front of them. The only thing that has changed since the last time they were here is that everyone was less smiles and jokes.

_(Well, Gavin was paying attention this time. That was a change.)_

And it was Geoff who had asked the question, the only one out of all of them that was away from the desks. Everyone else had taken a seat, but Geoff was pacing between the two clusters of desks as he ran his hand through his hair; the action doing nothing but messing the inky black hair up even more.

“We’re far from being prepared and we only have two days,” Jack murmurs, and he sighs softly, lifting up his glasses with one hand so his other than rub at them.

“There’s a lot we can do, and a lot we can’t do,” Kdin bites his lip, and he looks away as he thinks. “And there’s a lot of different ways we can approach this.”

“Guns blazing,” Ray speaks, bundled up in an office chair with a hoodie a few sizes too big for him. It looks like it was one of Jack’s.  “Or we could actually make a plan.”

There’s a beat of silence before Caleb speaks up. “Is this going to be it? Do you guys plan on taking out Burnie here?”

“Why not?” Michael questions. “This is the perfect opportunity. He’s inviting us to come to him… This could be it. The next chance we have is to invade.”

“This is the perfect set up for a trap,” Ryan disagrees as he shakes his head. “It’s a cliché— he’s inviting us to some abandoned warehouse to win. Those who declare war intend to win.”

There’s a few beats of silence. No one knows what to say to combat Ryan. They don’t know what to say because Ryan’s right. This is the perfect set up for a trap, and they don’t know which is the better option to pick. They could go to Burnie and possibly fall into the trap, or they could not go. But what would then happen; if they didn’t go?

“We should go,” Geoff stopped in his pacing, and everybody looked at him with a look of either confusion or surprise.

“Anything could happen, why not take a chance? We’ll stock up so if this turns into a gun fight we could at least have something to defend ourselves.” Geoff continues. “And like Michael said… This could be the best shot we have. Any other plan would be us invading.”

_Reluctantly, they all slowly nod and agree._

 

They get home hours later after they come up with a plan.

Caleb has been called to get as many guns as he could in the next two days, Kdin and Lindsay were tasked with getting into the camera system to be their eyes as they meet Burnie, and Matt and Jeremy were told to check all vehicles and then upgrade three vans they would use.

But they got home two hours later; tired and exhausted after planning for so long.

Gavin immediately padded upstairs to get changed into pajamas after they had opened the front door, and everyone else migrated into the living room; not saying anything. They’d been talking for so long, and they were all just… _tired_.

Geoff was sandwiched by Jack and Ryan on the couch, the two having an arm around his waist and sitting all close together. Down on the air mattress, Ray and Michael were snuggled up close with one of Gavin’s big quilts sprawled across them to keep them warm.

Now that they had put a name on their relationship, the five criminals were sharing sweet, short kisses and longer, loving touches. This _definitely_ included cuddling.

Reaching across Jack, Geoff grabbed the remote and turned the TV on; the living room was just too quiet and it was bothering Geoff. And when the TV turned on, it was open to a news channel. It was nothing important; something about some traffic jam downtown, far away from the little suburban neighborhood Gavin lived in.

They were warned about Gavin’s return by the stairs creaking and then the floor below the carpet creaking in the hall. Then, Gavin appeared in the doorway; his hair messed up in an oddly perfect way, dressed in a light grey hoodie that looked like it actually fit him, and dark blue pajama pants dotted with little gold stars.

It looked childish, but adorable— Michael couldn’t help but notice as he looked with a smile.

“Hey Gav,” he waved the Brit over. “Come join us! We can have a Lads cuddle pile.”

Gavin took a few steps into the room, and then he paused as his face scrunched up in confusion. “Lads?”

“Yeah!” Ray agreed, and Ryan chuckled from the couch.

“We’re the Lads! They’re the wrinkly ass Gents,” Michael points with his thumb at the three older men on the couch. “Now come on!” He pats the mattress next to him.

“Cuddle pile- we’re about to watch a movie.” Ray practically demands, and they all _totally_ notice Gavin’s light blush as he pads barefoot over to the air mattress. Ray pulls Gavin down and they move around on the mattress for a minute; trying to figure out a position.

In the end, Gavin’s like Geoff; sandwiched between Michael and Ray with their legs tangled together and the quilt on top of them.

But Gavin’s not uncomfortable with the position; he loves the warmth practically radiating off Michael and how Ray, despite looking bony and skinny, is an amazing cuddler. With a smile on his lips, he leans against Michael’s chest, and curls an arm around Ray’s waist.

From above, the three older men are watching with the same loving smile.

But the smile is soon broken when Ray smacks at Jack’s knee; trying to get his attention.

“Hey! What happened to our movie?” Ray demands and glares up at Ryan, who is closest to the xbox controller. Ryan chuckles, and turns on the xbox, and then puts up Netflix.

It’s nice- after a long day they can unwind and relax.

_It’s very nice._

Gavin doesn’t remember when he fell asleep, but when he wakes, he’s still on the air mattress. He feels warmth pressed up against his back, and weight on his chest. There is breathing in his ear, and slowly, he opens his eyes.

It takes a few quick blinks before the world is clear, and he sees Ray with his head on his chest. One glance over his shoulder and Michael’s there, pressed up against his back with an arm thrown over his waist.

Gavin smiles a little, and looks up at the couch. There, Geoff and Jack are cuddling in their sleep; fortunately staying on the couch. But about half of Jack is over the side of the couch.

The Brit is about to question where Ryan is, and then he smells breakfast.

With a small grin, he carefully climbs out of the tangled mess that is him, Michael, and Ray. Luckily, the other two remain asleep as he pulls the quilt back over them; since it had fallen down in the middle of the night.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, Gavin enters the kitchen.

There’s Ryan, standing in front of the stove; shirtless with his hair still wet from the shower he taken when he woke.

“Hey dear-” Ryan turns, and then he laughs softly. “Oh— sorry…”

“It’s fine,” Gavin shakes his head as he blushes lightly; without realizing.

There’s a few beats of silence where Ryan is watching Gavin with a warm smile, and where Gavin is blushing with a shy smile.

“Care to have some pancakes?” Ryan gestures to the stove, where he has three pancakes sizzling away on a pan.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Gavin murmurs as he nods, moving over to the table. Ryan, the gentleman, had already set the table.

Laughing, he responds. “I can- but I let Geoff and Jack take over all of the duties… I once almost burned down a safehouse for a stove fire… And I told them it wasn’t my fault, but they banned me from cooking.”

Gavin scoffs and then he throws his hands up. “Then why are you cooking now!? Don’t bloody burn down my house!”

The corners of Ryan’s eyes crinkle as he smiles. “Don’t worry, that was years ago,” he laughs softly and turns back to the stove. The Brit rolls his eyes, and he stands up from the chair to go make himself some tea.

Of course, the smell of pancakes and breakfast slowly bring everyone else into the kitchen. And just like the night before, Gavin feels completely happy as they eat.

Jack’s sitting on his right, and Ray’s on his left; and the conversation they are sharing is easy and light. There’s a smile on his lips the entire time, and Gavin’s easily apart of the conversation.

But he feels a pang of jealousy as Geoff and Michael share a kiss at the end of breakfast. Luckily, the smile stays on his lips… it just fades a little.

For now— Gavin has no clue what the jealousy means.

And as with most things; he’ll understand soon enough.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sooo… hehehe.


	34. The Storm Comes in Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And this is only the first wave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

The trunk of their car is packed with various guns and ammo.

Caleb hadn’t let them down, nor have Jeremy and Matt.

Caleb had found out various suppliers that would only do business with him if the Fake AH Crew wasn’t mentioned; and Caleb had lied easily to the supplier. And Matt and Jeremy had picked a van that was a darker grey to switch out the tires with bulletproof ones, upgrade the armor, tint the windows, and other enhancements.

_For the best they could get in two days, they had pretty good chances._

 

The car ride was silent.

Geoff had the address pulled up on his phone, and he only spoke to guide Jack in the right direction. Ray was checking his rifle one last time. Michael had his hand in Ryan’s; attempting to keep both of them calm and focused. Jack was driving; his grip on the steering wheel was tight.

And that left Gavin, who was sitting towards the back, with a pistol sitting on the floor next to him. He was scared, but in an odd way. He was terrified about what was going to happen… yet confident.

The past few months had completely changed his thoughts on the Fake AH Crew. Before all of this, he saw the group as heartless criminals who thought of Los Santos as their playground to destroy and run rampant in.

But now… He saw them as humans, and as actual people that were far different than how they appeared to the public.

Gavin’s terrified yet confident; an incredibly odd combination.

_But hopefully it works out okay._

The car slows to a stop in front of a warehouse; one that looks in pretty good shape.

The only light on the street is from two streetlights, one of which keeps flickering. The other streetlight isn’t flickering, but it’s dim and casts an orange light onto everything nearby.

Gavin can’t see anything in full detail as they park away from the streetlights; across the street from the warehouse.

It takes a few seconds after the car stops for everybody to start moving. Ray moves to grab his rifle off his lap, and extra ammo from underneath his seat. Ryan and Michael pull apart after sharing a quick kiss before pulling open the door. Jack pauses, staring straight ahead before reaching down to grab the gun by his feet. Geoff follows Jack’s movements; but he’s staring at Jack instead of out the front windshield.

When Gavin starts to move is when someone says something.

“Gav-” it’s Ryan. “You should stay here…”

“No,” Gavin’s almost scared to speak louder than a whisper; it’s so quiet on the street. “I want to come in— I want to see him.”

“You could get hurt…” Ryan whispers back, and he carefully sets a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. His voice is affectionate, which makes Gavin have to look away.

“But…” Gavin trails off. “Please- I’ll stay by the door— I’ll stay _outside_ the door if you want me too!”

His voice starts to rise and he’s catching the attention of the others, who are pulling weapons out of the trunk.

“Let him come in,” Geoff butts in, and Ryan’s shoulders slump. In the darkness, they can tell Ryan’s not going to argue by how his shoulders slump and his hand falls away from Gavin’s shoulder.

Gavin watches Ryan’s shadowy, dark figure go to the trunk. Sighing almost inaudibly, Gavin turns to close the door of the van.

“We’ll protect him.”

_The Brit just barely hears Geoff whispering to Ryan._

 

It’s hardly a shock to find the warehouse empty; tall, metal shelves that line the walls leave little room for hiding. The warehouse has an empty clearing; everything inside pushed up against the walls.

There’s little cover to hide behind; and Geoff doesn’t know if that’s good or bad. He’ll find out soon anyway.

But they slowly step into the warehouse, various weapons in hands and other concealed weapons hiding in their clothes. Everybody but Gavin has concealed weapons. The only gun given to Gavin was a pistol that was pushed into his hardly shaking hands.

The six stand near the door, and slowly Geoff steps forward to try and get a better look around the place.

There are a few lights up on the ceiling, but they are dim like they’ve been on forever. The concrete floor is cracked in some places, and there are a handful of stains dotting the large clearing. The metal shelves built up against the walls are scattered with cardboard boxes and other unidentifiable shapes that take up space on the slightly rusted shelves. On the floor by the shelves are more boxes, some open and other closed.

In the dim light, nothing is completely visible and identifiable, and there’s shadows all over the place.

Ryan shifts his grip on his gun, keeping it pointed at the ground as he looks around too.

They all get towards the middle of the seemingly empty warehouse before something that’s in the shadows start to move.

Ryan raises his gun when he hears the slightest sound.

There’s then a chuckle; dark and malicious.

“ _Down boy_ ,” the voice echoes around the warehouse, and they all know the voice before the person it belongs to steps out of the shadows.

It’s Burnie Burns; stepping out of the shadows and into the dim light. There’s a smirk on his lips, and the dim lighting sets shadows on his face that only makes him look more cliché.

Geoff would’ve raised his gun too, but he doesn’t. Burnie doesn’t have a gun in his hands, or anything else that’s visible.

“But I see you still keep your boys on guard,” Burnie’s joking, but it’s not funny. Geoff tries to hide a scowl as he steps forward; gun still pointed down.

“What do you want?” Geoff growls, and Burnie’s smirk only grows.

“Oh, nothing exactly.” Burnie’s dancing around the topic and Geoff’s not up for dealing with his shit.

“Get to the _fucking_ point,” Geoff’s grip tightens for a second.

Behind him, the five shift uncomfortably.

Gavin’s closest to the door, right on the edge of the shadows, standing a foot behind Michael and Ray; who are standing close together. It’s then Jack, who is a little bit in front of the two, and Ryan.

They’re all watching Geoff and Burnie; eyes volleying back and forth like they’re watching tennis.

“Fine, fine,” Burnie shrugs, and his hands carefully rise. Michael’s hands twitch as he watches silently.

“I’ve given up,” Burnie’s smirk vanishes, and his hands are now raised like he’s surrendering.

And Geoff doesn’t know if he buys into it or not.

“This has been going on too long; taking up way too much of my time,” Burnie’s voice is flat. He’s not sounding malicious anymore. “My crew is tired of tracking you. And I’m sick of having them tell me no… Because we’re… ‘allies’. But we’re not allies.”

Geoff doesn’t say anything; he’s waiting for Burnie to continue because he’s obvious he has more to say.

“I guess I’m the one to wave the white flag.” Burnie’s hands down falter, nor does his expression.

He hates to say this, or think of this, but Geoff is starting to believe him. He _knows_ Burnie; if the man had some other intentions it would show… and he wouldn’t draw something out this long.

It’s been months since Burnie has ‘declared war’, and if he wanted something for himself he would’ve done it a long time ago. He would’ve broken into their house and killed them off; gotten one of them when they were alone outside of the house, or something else that would’ve finished them off forever ago… Like exploding their cars back at the first safe house nearly a month ago.

Geoff knows— he knows Burnie and he knows how the man gets what he wants. And if he wanted something, he would’ve gotten in the second they walked in, or even before that.

And Burnie can tell that Geoff is softening; the tattooed man’s shoulders are drooping and the grip on his gun is loosening. Hiding a smirk, Burnie’s hands move.

He lowers them a little, and puts the insides of his wrists together; like some invisible rope is tying them together.

“Go ahead,” his voice is softer. “I’ve given up. Just tie me up.”

But Ryan and Jack aren’t falling as easily as Geoff.

Ryan’s stomach twists and ties itself into a knot. He doesn’t feel right about this. He feels like there’s more than Burnie in the room; like there are more eyes watching them… but he can’t see who they belong to.

And Jack— Jack doesn’t trust Burnie. He’s never _really_ trusted Burnie; he always got the feeling that the man wanted something better and would do anything to get what he wants… and he’s only using the Fake AH Crew to get there.

But before the two can say anything, Geoff sighs through his nose.

“Okay,” Geoff whispers, and he’s turning towards Jack when Burnie’s expression changes.

Geoff has his back to him— he doesn’t see it. Ryan and Jack are looking at Geoff, they don’t see it. Michael and Ray are watching, and so is Gavin.

Burnie’s eyes harden, fingers curling into tight fists, his lips quirking up into a devilish smirk.

The whole thing was an act; and they’ll feel dumb for falling for it once this is all over.

“ _GEOFF!”_ It’s Gavin who screams just as Burnie pulls his hands apart and laughs.

Ryan and Jack’s eyes go wide, and they see a glint of something up on a metal shelf. It must’ve been a cue or something, because then there’s a bullet flying towards them.

Ryan pulls Geoff back, making Geoff stumble before he picks up the pace and sprints back towards the door. Jack almost trips as he tries to hide. Michael and Ray move in sync and they each grab one of Gavin’s hands and they try to pull the Brit down.

And Gavin’s almost frozen in fear.

_Luckily, there’s a stack of boxes that give them some semblance of cover._

 

Despite having cover, it’s unfortunately only cardboard boxes. But they must be filled with something because a few bullets hit them and they don’t make it through. And before Ray can do anything, the room is filled with sounds of gunfire and he hears the soft whizzing of bullets above his head.

He glances up quickly, trying to find whoever is shooting them. But there are multiple people— and they’re hidden in the shadows.

And Burnie; he’s still standing in the middle of the warehouse with the devilish smirk still on his lips.

Ray only ducks back down the boxes because he hears a bullet whistle right by his ear.

“There’s someone up in the corner,” Ryan whispers, and whoever is up there is just barely visible in the shadows. You’d have to pay extremely careful attention and focus on them completely for them to be even just barely visible.

Ryan waits a second, Ray watching his every move, and then he pokes out behind a box to try and hit the shadow up on the shelves. He’s a miracle that he hits—he sees the glint of their gun as it falls to the ground from up on top of a shelf.

And he’s trying to locate the next shadow when Burnie holds up his hand.

_Everything halts._

 

Michael tries to pull Gavin down, but Gavin’s not budging.

Everything is moving too fast and they’re in danger as they stand in the middle of the open space.

Michael is trying to get Gavin to budge, but Gavin’s too scared.

He’s got his eyes locked onto Burnie; their eyes meet a few seconds later. And if Burnie’s smirk could grow darker, it just did.

The sound of a gun hitting the concrete doesn’t make Gavin look away. He doesn’t look away when Burnie raises his hands and the gunfire halts. He doesn’t look away as Michael grabs his wrists and gives up on pulling him back.

His eyes remain frozen on Burnie; who is now walking towards him and Michael.

The rest of the crew, who is behind the boxes, are a mix of fear, confusion, and worry. They’re too afraid to move or shoot.

“Aw…” Burnie coos, and it makes Gavin whimper and Michael’s grip on his wrists tighten.

“It’s a shame, Dan talked about you so much… and this is the first time we get to talk,” Burnie stops a little bit in front of Gavin, and Michael growls.

“Relax, I’m not going to hurt him,” Burnie’s voice is sickeningly calm, and Gavin feels like he’s about to be sick.

“I just want to talk. Ask him how he’s been doing,” Burnie runs his tongue over his teeth. “How have you been, Gavvy?”

Gavin swallows thickly and he whimpers softly. Not answering doesn’t seem to please Burnie, and his hands snatch Gavin’s shoulders and pull him forward. The harsh yank forward pulls him away from Michael, who reaches for Gavin.

But Burnie pulls a knife out; the blade hidden in his waistband, behind his back so it wasn’t visible unless someone was standing behind him… and no one was.

Gavin shivers at the chilly blade when it’s set against his neck. Michael’s eyes go wide and his hands drop… Just like how Burnie wants. Ray and Jack stand, their guns pointed at the ground. Ryan remains crouched, but he watches. He and Geoff have matching looks of fear in their wide eyes.

Burnie laughs wickedly; this is exactly what he wanted. He wanted to see all of their faces and feel Gavin shaking.

“Now, how about we strike up a deal?” Burnie suggests, but it comes out more like a demand. “I take little Gavvy here, and we call this war over? You surrender.”

“Like we’d surrender,” Michael growls, and Ray steps out from behind one of the box to pull Michael back.

“Oh? Well it’s either you surrender or Gavin here will join his fiancé,” Burnie raises an eyebrow, and he shifts the blade; not making a cut, but it gives Gavin an idea of how sharp the blade is.

Geoff stands now, and he looks… shell-shocked. “Okay, we surrender.”

Ryan, who is standing next to Geoff, breaks his blank expression to look at Geoff like the tattooed man has seven heads and bright green skin.

“You can take him… Just don’t kill him,” Geoff’s breathless as he tries to keep himself together… But it’s showing that he’s cracking.

“Fantastic!” Burnie’s voice is giddy like a child on Christmas. “How fun will this be, Gavvy?”

Gavin gulps, too petrified to do anything but shake.

“Now how about we take our leave?” Burnie whispers in Gavin’s ear, and then he addresses everyone else. “Don’t you dare follow us, or think about moving.”

When nobody moves or says anything, Burnie starts to walk forward. The sudden movement makes Gavin stumble, then try to keep himself still so he doesn’t get cut.

And the five criminals only watch; standing like statues as they walk out.

The last thing they see is Burnie’s back… and Gavin’s eyes welling up with tears.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well… on the good side, I think I got over the ‘heavy dialogue’ chapters… on the bad side, this is the final arc of the story. There should only be a handful of chapters left… AND I’M SAD! But hey- I have another project planned already!!!


	35. The Eye of the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The harsh winds and tall waves are gone for now, but the calm won’t last long. This is only a break in the fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is really short, too short for my liking, but it has to be for plot reasons.

It’s hard to watch Gavin go, but they have to. It’s just a sacrifice they have to make; they’ll get him back soon… They just couldn’t risk it.

And _god_ the car-ride home was painful.

Jack was driving, but his eyes looked distant. Geoff had instantly turned the radio off. Ryan, Michael, and Ray all sit in back. Ray’s got his eyes closed so he doesn’t cry, and Michael’s eyes are glazed over; his vision is unfocused as he sits there. Ryan’s keeping his mask on— he doesn’t want the guys to see his pain right now…

He’s remembering the night weeks ago, the first night he spent it with Gavin. The night he told Gavin about the story how he lost the woman he loved before all of this. And god damn if he didn’t feel the same pain he felt all those years ago when he lost her.

And if the car-ride was bad,

_Then arriving at Gavin’s house was even worse._

 

When Gavin comes to, the first thing he sees is iron bars, and then he sees everything else.

_(He must’ve been knocked out before getting in the car the night before; because he doesn’t remember ending up in the room at all.)_

But the room is bare; concrete everything except for the iron bars locking him in. And it’s not that large either; only about 7 by 7 feet at the most. The only light in the room is from a bare bulb put in the middle of the ceiling, and it flickers every so often. There’s a bed that looks like it’s straight out of a prison, and it doesn’t help the sinking feeling in Gavin’s stomach.

Just as he starts to push himself up, he realizes how cold he is. The room temperature is already freezing, and he was dumped on the cold concrete floor. Shivers run through him as he heaves himself up onto the ‘bed’; which is only a thin mattress that feels like it’s been stuffed with newspaper, and a blanket that’s thin and dotted with holes.

And it’s like someone’s watching him because the second he’s on the bed there’s footsteps echoing from somewhere outside his little cell… And they’re getting louder.

“Look who’s finally awake,” a familiar voice drawls, and for a second Gavin thinks it’s Geoff, and his heart starts to swell with joy, but he looks up and sees a smirk that makes his stomach fall like he’s on a rollercoaster and just went down the biggest dip.

“How are you feeling Gavvy?” It’s Burnie, standing there in a full, dark grey suit. He looks professional, and to any outsider he’d just look like a normal businessman. But to Gavin, he looks like the devil himself.

“Cold,” the Brit murmurs and he’s suddenly regretting the decision to leave one of his hoodies at home. All he’s wearing right now is jeans and a t-shirt. Not exactly proper November clothing, but it wasn’t really that cold the night before.

“Mm,” Burnie hums, and he pauses for a few seconds before clicking his tongue. “Well luckily for you, I have a gift.”

Gavin looks confused, and he slowly sits up, but he doesn’t put his feet on the floor. He’s too cold, and somehow he doesn’t have any shoes on… Weird.

“Do these look familiar?” Burnie slips his hand between the bars, and then he puts out his hand, palm facing upwards. The glinting of two golden bands in the man’s palm make Gavin feel light headed; like he’s about to throw up.

Burnie chuckles at Gavin’s visible reaction. He keeps his palm out, even pushing it forward a little bit as a silent signal to take them. And it takes a minute or so for Gavin to slip off the bed and take the rings.

And god does it hurt for Gavin to look down at the rings.

They’re still in perfect condition, no dents or scrapes or anything; looking exactly like they did the last time Gavin saw them… all those months ago. And now he understands where the two rings were; with the monster that his ex-fiancé used to work with.

“I’ve been meaning to give these back to you for a while now,” Burnie pauses. “And I just felt like it was the perfect time.” He draws his hand back; slipping his fingers between the bars and then clasping his hands together behind his back.

Neither of them then speak for a while.

Burnie watches as Gavin practically falls back onto the bed. The bed makes an awful squeak— sounding like it’s about to collapse. But Gavin’s too wrapped up in his own mind to worry about the bed falling out from underneath him.

The rings are just putting him in a trance; to the day he got engaged and how hours later, when they got home, he awkwardly showed Dan the ring _he_ had bought. They had ended up laughing over the fact that both of them had brought rings, and Dan had beaten Gavin.

And in the end, they both put on their rings. Sure, it was a little annoying how people would ask them all the time if they were married, but they kept doing it anyway.

It made Gavin feel better…

And now it’s just making him feel worse. ( _It’s a miracle he hasn’t thrown up yet_.)

“You know Gavvy, I wonder why you trusted them,” Burnie breaks the uncomfortable silence after a good ten minutes of silence. Gavin looks up at the man, eyes wide and glossy with tears. It doesn’t show on Burnie’s face, but the man is thriving off Gavin’s pain… He’s gone mad with power.

“I mean, they killed your fiancé and took away everything you had.” Burnie shrugs it off like it’s nothing; like this entire thing is a casual conversation you’d have with a friend. And Gavin’s too upset to be upset. He’s sitting there, looking up at Gavin with pure terror in his eyes.

“Sure, they’re basically keeping you captive in your own home…” He trails off. “So it’s not exactly easy to leave… But how can you trust them? They took absolutely _everything_ from you.”

Now his tone has turned into pity; the type of tone you’d use for a child and Gavin feels a spike of anger course through him.

“They care about me,” he narrows his eyes, hissing out his words. But the anger is short lived. Seconds later it’s gone and Gavin’s eyes are back to looking glossy and watery; like he’s about to cry. “They care…”

“If they cared, then they would’ve come already.” Burnie clicks his tongue a few times, and he clarifies when Gavin looks at him with a slightly confused look.

“Gavvy, you’ve been here for a week.”

It’s a total lie, but Burnie is so… _convincing_. And it doesn’t help that Gavin’s brain is nearly fried with everything that’s happened in the past few days, weeks, and months. He’s on the final straw, and Burnie definitely picks up on that.

“If they cared about you, they’d come after you,” Burnie purses his lips and hums; looking something like a disappointed mother. “But I guess I’ll leave you to that. I’ve got business to do after all.”

Gavin’s unable to speak, and he sees Burnie start to turn.

_The next time he blinks, Burnie’s gone._

 

While Gavin sits alone; locked away in a concrete cell, the guys are in their own levels of despair.

They all know feel sort of like Gavin did weeks ago when they first came to the house… A heartbreaking pain because all they can think of his the memories.

No one ends up sleeping, and the first person who speaks after they get home is Ray, and he whispers to Michael as they lay down on the air mattress in the living room.

“We didn’t get to tell him,” Ray whispers, and Michael’s instantly defensive.

“Don’t say that,” Michael hisses. “We’re getting him back. You make it sound like he’s dead.”

Michael’s words make everybody freeze for a second, and then Ray murmurs an apology. While Michael’s tone was harsh, he spoke the truth.

Gavin wasn’t dead.

_And they were going to get him back._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey isn’t it sad that there’s only three more chapters left?  
> Yeah. It’s sad, and I’m sad.


	36. The Final Wave (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm is back; feeling harsher than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the next part is the last actual chapter, and then it’s the epilogue. And god I know I’ve said this multiple times but god damn I’m sad to see this go.

The day after Gavin’s… _kidnapping_ … the guys had talked to the B-Team, and luckily it didn’t take long to put the pieces together and figure out where the main base for the Cockbites was.

_And then the plan was set_.

 

Gavin had been forcibly pulled from his cell the second there was a distant explosion. Completely confused, Gavin was too dazed to struggle as one of Burnie’s men pull him down the hall and through a set of doors and down other halls; even pulling the Brit up couple of stairwells. The building felt like a maze; making Gavin dizzy as he tried to remember the path they had taken from his cell to a fairly large room.

A conference room; the stereotypical long, dark wood table with desk chairs pushed up and in perfect order, including the one at the head of the table. The room was dim; the only light coming from the large glass windows behind the head of the table. But it was the middle of the night, the only light coming from the moonlight and distant lights from downtown Los Santos.

Gavin was shoved into the chair at the head of the table, then forced to have his wrists tied to the arms of the chair, ankles tied together, and a rag shoved into his mouth— as a make-shift gag. The entire time, Gavin’s confused and he only watches as the shadowy figure with their face covered by a hood ties him up.

There’s then a pause— a few minutes of silence in the room and distant gun shots.

Gavin’s too out of it to understand what’s going on; and it still doesn’t click for him when Burnie steps into the room and slips into the shadows of the room.

The Brit doesn’t know that this is all a plan; a plot to rid ‘the enemy’, and to only cause pain.

_But he gets it once the door is opened once more_.

 

Michael’s the one to trigger the first explosion. He’s the one to make the first shot and set a grenade off that’ll blow open the door and start the attack.

And hopefully, this is the last attack they’ll have to make for a while.

But as the smoke clears, they use it as cover and they storm in, shooting two men in dark clothing that act as guards. And as they comb through the building; they shoot anybody they find.

When they look back on it, later on, they realize how much destruction they caused. The halls were stained with blood and bodies, and the occasional scorch mark from when Michael set off a chain of explosions to cause more destruction to leave their enemies crippled.

But for now, they all have the same purpose though; _find Gavin_.

Ryan searches every room they come across; and most of the time they’re empty, and sometimes they have men inside that he quickly shoots. But no Gavin.

Michael checks the areas quickly before he sets off an explosion; he doesn’t want to accidently kill someone he’s not supposed to. But no Gavin.

Geoff and Jack split up from everybody else to go to the other side of the building. They comb through the part of the building that’s masked as a normal office building; offices and cubicles that have little personal items strewn across desks and hung with thumbtacks on cork-boards. There’s nobody really over there, only a few guards just to be sure. But no Gavin.

Ray’s not the sniper now; he’s been given the task to find rooms that look like Gavin could be held in them. Instead of finding actual rooms; he finds the cells. And in the long hall of cells, there’s only one with the door open. He looks inside, only to find a bare bed with the blanket half thrown onto the floor and half on the bed, like whoever was inside was pulled off suddenly, and against their will. He knows Gavin must’ve been held here. But still, no Gavin.

Through their headsets, they give off directions and commands to get all of them to group back together; Geoff thinks he’s found the conference rooms.

The rooms are all in one hall; and the further they walk the larger the rooms get. They finally get to the end of the hall, where the door is cracked open; unlike all of the others, who have their doors closed.

With Ryan in the lead, he nudges open the door with his foot. He has his gun in hand, with a tight grip so he can raise and shoot if necessary.

And it’s like a breath of fresh air,

_because the first person they see is Gavin._

But the clarity doesn’t last for long; because they all step closer to Gavin.

Ryan rushes forward to start to untie Gavin, and Michael and Ray follow. Jack’s stress melts away and he even smiles. But Geoff feels a pair of eyes on him, and just as he looks around he feels the familiar, cold of a barrel of a gun press against the nape of his neck.

‘ _Drop it’_ a husky voice whispers in his ear. Too petrified to defy orders, Geoff lets his grip loosen on the gun. The clattering of Geoff’s gun hitting the ground makes everybody look at him.

Ryan, plus Ray and Michael, have just gotten Gavin’s gag off and started to loosen the complicated knot on his wrists, when they turn. And Jack’s smile dips down into a scowl, his shoulders tense up again, and he’s the first to raise his gun.

But the gun at Geoff’s neck doesn’t pull away; it only presses in further.

“Good to see you again, Geoff,” a familiar voice drawls. And Geoff’s eyes slowly widen.

“I hope you’ll be a little easier to bend this time,” Burnie’s voice is still in a drawl and then he clicks his tongue a few times. Even though Burnie was behind Geoff— the tattooed man could _feel_ Burnie’s smirk. And Geoff’s stomach started to twist into knots.

His life was on the line— he _had_ to listen to Burnie.

“So how about we talk about _you_?” Burnie shifts; and the barrel is pressed a little bit higher up on Geoff’s neck; tilted where if the trigger was pulled, the bullet would go straight through Geoff’s brain. One pull of the trigger, and Geoff would be kissing his life goodbye.

He gulped, and let out a shaky breath through his mouth. “W-What do you wan-ant to talk about?” He stutters, and it makes the most powerful man in Los Santos sound like a frightened child.

And it makes Burnie _thrive_.

“Well first of all, I want all of you to drop your guns,” it doesn’t sound like a command, but the cocking of Burnie’s pistol makes everyone shakily set their guns down on the floor. And Geoff doesn’t realize his hands are shaking and his knees are weak. For the first time in years, Geoff is terrified.

“Good, good,” Burnie hums, and he licks his lips. He draws out the action; like he’s thinking over something important. And while it is important, he’s already made his decision and the action is pointless.

But it’s making Geoff twitchy and scared; and that’s exactly what he wants.

“How about we have a little talk on what you did,” Burnie’s voice is back to a drawl. “I want to know the real reason why you did what you did Geoff. Why we’re here now, and why I have the power over your life.”

Geoff’s shot back to the moment in the kitchen, nearly a month ago, when he talked to the guys about what he had done… But that was only a portion of the truth; Gavin had stormed off and the conversation got derailed before he could finish.

And now, he gulps once more, realizing that if he lived and survived this, he would have to deal with his mistakes and his faults. But if he died at the hands of Burnie, then this would all be over for him.

At this moment— with his mind running a mile a minute— he didn’t know which choice he liked better.

But Burnie clears his throat. He’s getting impatient.

“Well, where do you want to start Geoff? When you killed Dan, or before that?” Burnie prompted, and Geoff took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well… this is sad.


	37. The Final Wave (Part Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm is harsh; but it’s slowly starting to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *wipes tears out of eyes* this has been a journey, and I’ll leave a long and emotional note at the end of the chapter…
> 
> And there are warnings for this chapter, but since they’re spoilers I’m putting them at the end. But if you don’t mind the spoilers, then have a peek.

“Well, where do you want to start Geoff? When you killed Dan, or before that?” Burnie prompted, and Geoff took a deep breath.

_It was now or never._

Geoff tries to keep his breathing steady. “I… I never thought this alliance we had was good.”

He closes his eyes; not wanting to watch his crew as he speaks. He can’t stand Jack’s wide perfectly brown eyes, Ryan’s crystal blue eyes that are full of pain, Michael’s chocolate brown eyes glossy with tears, Ray’s almost pitch-black eyes that are blank and emotionless, or Gavin’s emerald eyes that are wide and watery.

And he won’t admit this until years later, but he’s also holding back tears.

“I was greedy I guess, back then, and I didn’t want to be restricted,” his voice was soft. But the room was thick and tense, so quiet you could drop a pin. He didn’t have to raise his voice to be heard.

“And god, I guess that’s why I did it,” Geoff laughs softly, but it’s harsh and humorless. “I guess I killed Dan because I wanted to hurt you, Burnie.”

He shakes his head a little, dipping down a little. But not too much; the press of the barrel kept him pretty still.

“And then when you declared war, I figured I might as well kill you too,” he shrugs a little. “I already hurt you, and since you wanted to kill me, I wanted to defend the guys…”

Burnie wants to cut in, but just to be sure, he waits for Geoff to speak again. When he doesn’t, he smirks and speaks up.

“So you didn’t care about your crew until I called war?”

Geoff’s silent as he thinks, and then he shrugs once more. “I don’t know… I didn’t want to lose them…” His eyes are still closed, and he hears a soft sniffle. Somebody’s crying, but Geoff is too scared to open his eyes and see who it is.

“Well...” Burnie trails off, and he sounds… _happy_. Like this isn’t a life or death situation; like he isn’t causing Geoff to fell the worst pain he’s ever had. Like he isn’t the ringleader of this whole mess and treating Geoff like his puppet.

“Anything else, Geoff?” Burnie pauses. “I feel like there’s more to this story.”

Taking another steady breath, Geoff tries to put his jumbled thoughts into coherent sentences.

“I… I gave orders to watch Dan… and Gavin…” Geoff’s voice is shaking, but at least he’s not stuttering. “I said that I only wanted a clean kill… And you guys were all so confused.”

Gavin’s confused, but the rest of them all understand. They remember those orders and having to listen to them.

“But… I don’t know… I guess I wanted to actually make sure I had the right guy…” He trails off. “But I don’t even remember why I did it…”

“Now that just seems silly,” Burnie remarks while rolling his eyes. “You don’t remember why you did it?”

“Yeah…” Geoff nods. “I guess I was just tired of you.”

Geoff’s shaking voice changes, full of snark and sass. Everybody’s now shocked; even Burnie. And Jack and Ryan are incredibly worried, because they have zero clue on what Geoff is doing. Ray watches carefully; studying Geoff’s expression and trying to figure out what his boss is doing. But Ray doesn’t understand, Geoff’s real feelings are now locked up and well hidden.

“And I think we’re all tired of you,” Geoff’s voice is completely different now, and Burnie’s shocked, to say the least.

“I have my own question for you, Burns.” A pause. “Why’d you push Dan towards us? What were you trying to do there?”

While Burnie isn’t the one with the cocked gun against his neck, the man starts to panic. His eyes widen and his heart-rate starts to pick up as he comes up with an answer.

“Well.. I felt the same,” his voice is shaking now. “I’m pretty damn tired of your power Geoff. I’m pretty damn tired of you being called the most powerful while I’m the one who was here longer than you were.”

Burnie’s grip on the gun falters, and Geoff uses that to his advantage. He opens his eyes as a smirk crosses his lips. He’s not scared to open them now; because his crew is looking on with shared smirks. Even Gavin looks happy to see Burnie cracking.

“Out of all the people, you sent Dan?” Geoff’s now pressing on hard questions, and he can feel the barrel of the gun shaking lightly against the back of his neck.

“Well— I mean… It was one man for five. I had to make some sacrifices.” Burnie shrugs a little, trying to play it off like he was still calm and collected, and still the one with all of the power. But he was quickly losing it, and Geoff was rapidly picking it up.

“You know, Burnie, you’re a _real_ asshole,” his words are starting to get louder and louder, and there’s a fire in his eyes that flickers and shines bright with power. It’s been awhile since Geoff felt this powerful, and god _damn_ he loves breaking down his enemies.

It’s been a long time since he was like this.

“I’m not an asshole,” Burnie hisses.

“A real _coward_ ,” Geoff starts to turn, and Burnie lets it happen. He lets Geoff push his gun down, and Geoff step back; further away from him.

“I’m not a coward!” Burnie growls, and his grip gets harsh. Behind Geoff, he doesn’t realize that Michael and Ray have started to move again, and started to untie Gavin.

“Then why did it take you so long? We’ve been sitting ducks in Gavin’s house for a month! You knew we would end up there, so why didn’t you attack?” Geoff crosses his arms. And even though Burnie is taller than Geoff, it feels like Geoff’s the one who is taller.

And Ryan laughs softly, under his breath, as he watches Burnie start to cower.

“I-I… I was planning,” the excuse Burnie gives is utterly pathetic.

“Well looks like all of your planning has gone to waste.” It’s not Geoff who speaks; it’s _Gavin_.

Gavin was untied from the chair, and he’s gained confidence; overjoyed with how Geoff has gotten his power back and the man who _truly_ started this was cowering away like a frightened child.

“It’s a shame,” Gavin’s self-defense lessons from weeks ago comes in handy, and he shoves Burnie to the ground and pins him down by keeping his weight, and a foot, on the man’s chest. “I’m not sorry Burnie. You had this coming to you when you ruined my life and expected the world to bow down to you.”

The crew was coming in close, all standing above Burnie, tall and looming over Burnie.

“You’ve gone mad with power,” Michael hisses, and now all six of them are glaring down at the terrified man below them.

“You’re an asshole, Burnie.” Ray’s the one to raise his gun, and the last thing Burnie sees is the barrel of a gun.

And nobody flinches at the gunshot;

_They’re all too busy reveling in the fact that this is all over._

Michael makes the joke about how anti-climactic that was. They all laugh softly, not caring that Burnie is bleeding out underneath them. But then their laughter dies, and Gavin’s the first to stop smiling.

It fades away, and he licks his lips and looks down at the now dead body beneath him. He takes a step back, and then looks back up.

Everybody’s stepping away from the body, and their smiles are fading too.

But Gavin’s still full of confidence, and he pulls at Ryan’s hand, because he’s the closest one.

Ryan’s just looking over when he feels lips against his. And the feeling of eyes watching him comes seconds later.

And god, the kiss is better than he could’ve ever wished for; and it’s over way too soon.

_But Gavin has five other men he needs to kiss._

 

The cops are called the next day. Whoever remained alive in the Cockbite’s crew was handcuffed and put on trial for an array of charges that would set them in prison for life, and those deceased were given the proper funeral.

And while it was the perfect time to celebrate the defeat of the Cockbites, they were all burned out as their adrenaline ran out in the car ride home. But they were finally back at their apartment downtown after being away for too long, and somehow they managed to fit on Geoff’s bed that night.

**And even Gavin joined in.**

( _And don’t worry- they celebrated a week later after the Cockbite’s base had been searched by the police. They burnt the building to the ground and made sure all of Los Santos, and even the world, knew who was really on top.)_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER WARNINGS; minor character death, mentions of blood
> 
>  
> 
> But god damn this story has been a roller coaster. Writing this made me cry dozens of times and made me rant to my best friends about how much pain I was causing. This story took up almost ten months of my life, and proudly holds a place in my heart as the longest project I have ever done, and so many other reasons why.
> 
> Now, I’m actually proud of my writing. And I thank all of you who have read to this point; I thank all of you who have commented, given kudos, and (in tumblr’s case) reblogged and left absolutely wonderful notes in the comments. And I totally thank those who have left comments with theories that made me think and actually helped the plot of the story.
> 
> I thank all of you so damn much because if I had given up on this story like I have with other things I have written, I would definitely be a different person, and my writing style(s) would be very different.  
> But seriously- I’m ranting as I try not to cry from all of these emotions. 
> 
> I just have to thank you all, you’ve made this whole experience so worth it, despite the tears and sleepless nights where I lay in bed and wonder how I’m going to write this.
> 
> Thank you so much- and there’s still the epilogue left.
> 
> -Bailey/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes <3<3


	38. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody deserves a happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sniffles and grabs a handful of tissues* this is happy, it really is, I’m just emotional over my own writing. 10 months of writing…

His computer pinged quietly; almost inaudible over the sounds of gunfire, loud footsteps, and heavy breathing.

But Gavin heard it, and he paused his game, and set his controller down on the couch cushion next to him so he could grab his laptop from the coffee table. There was a new email sitting in his inbox, and a small smile crossed his lips when he saw the email address.

It was from a realtor, and it was the last email he would be getting from the email address for hopefully a very long time. He smiled a little, and scanned the email.

It was finally finished— his house was sold.

Shortly after the fall of the Cockbite gang, Gavin had decided it was time to move on. He emptied out his house; putting everything important in boxes to be moved to storage, and everything else either thrown away or moved into the apartment downtown to be slowly integrated into the penthouse’s décor.

Gavin had put a lot of things into storage; he couldn’t bear to throw them away. But he kept only one thing of Dan’s out of storage. His dog-tags.

He wanted to keep them because it wasn’t just about his romantic relationship with Dan; it was just… full of memories. Of the years before they kissed, when they were only best-friends who could never be separated. Of the years they were dating in England and had to deal with the distance. Of the handful of months they were engaged, and how Gavin tried to remain happy as his life-long friend started to change.

He kept them for all of those memories, because you can’t just throw away 20 years’ worth of memories.

Gavin kept the tags happily on his nightstand, and even though he spent most nights sleeping in someone else’s bed, he had his own private room. And he was perfectly happy after decorating his own little room with things from his house.

And sure, there were other things of Dan’s that were kept, like clothes and other personal possessions, but Gavin got rid of a fair amount... Including the rings.

After Gavin had made the decision to clean out the house, he and the crew went to the same pier Dan was disposed off of. It was an odd… _ceremony_ , to say the least, and Gavin tossed the rings into the water. He stood there, watching as the water rippled and the gold disappeared in the deep, murky water.

Then, he turned to share kisses with each of his five boyfriends before walking down the old pier.

But now that the house was sold, it wasn’t his anymore. It now belonged to some happy family with two twin daughters and a perky little two year old puppy. Gavin knew the home would be perfect for them;  because his home was now the apartment.

And speaking of his new home… Just as he closes the email and sets his laptop back on the coffee table, the door to the apartment bursts open.

“We’re back!” Michael hollers, victoriously holding his arms in the air as Ray whoops loudly. Ryan’s pulling off his mask and smiling brightly, and Geoff and Jack are close together and kissing softly.

They’re a flurry of noise and the second Geoff breaks the kiss he’s hurrying down the stairs to kiss Gavin’s cheek. The Brit sputters; Geoff’s lips are covered in grime and sweat.

“Geoff!” Gavin whines, looking up at his boyfriend with a playful pout. Geoff only rolls his eyes.

“Turn on the news!” Ryan’s giddy as can be as he comes up to the couch. It’s completely different from how the public sees him, but it’s who Gavin fell in love with. “We just pulled off the heist of the _century!_ ”

“You said that last time,” Ray jokes as he rolls his eyes, and Ryan laughs softly.

“You know what I mean,” Ryan murmurs before kissing Ray’s lips softly.

As Gavin switches over from his video game to the news, they all settle in on the couch; not caring that the couch is white as fresh fallen snow and they’re covered in blood, dirt, ash, and other random substances.

The TV is already set to the news, and as always, they turn it into a drinking game. Like they always do after big heists, and their adrenaline is starting to run out.

Geoff’s got inaccurate information, Michael’s got any word describing how ‘terrifying’ the Fake AH Crew is, Jack’s got descriptions on the crew members, and Gavin doesn’t join in this time.

Instead, he watches the crew, and his boyfriends. He’s got a small smile on his lips, and he’s glad he’s a part of this.

He’s glad that he stayed with them, instead of running off or doing something else drastic. And that he’s starting to help the B-Team keep them running and he’s glad that they all love him back.

_Even though it’s weird to say, he’s okay that he lost Dan._

 

Gavin Free had always thought he’d have a boring life. He thought he’d grow up with a desk job, get married, have a couple of kids, then retire happily in Florida. He thought he’d live to a ripe old age and die happily, living a fulfilled life.

But after his entire life changed on one August day, his thoughts changed completely. He would no longer live a normal life, like he’d expected. And he couldn’t deal with the change back then… But now he has more than he ever thought he would have.

And he loves it.

He loves his five boyfriends, who make every day better, and make even the most painful memories bearable.

He loves how he has a city that’s his playground, and he can do anything and everything he wants without having to care of the consequence.

He loves feeling like he’s on top of the world every day, and he stands there with five other men who are just as powerful, and just as amazing.

 

He thought he lost everything when he lost Dan.

But really, it was only one loss that gave him more than just pain and nightmares.

 

**_It brought him so much more, and he loved it so much._ **

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s it. It’s over.
> 
> But luckily I spilled all of my sappiness last chapter! This note is on a happier side! 
> 
> Since I wrote a few chapters ahead this entire fic, by the time this chapter is up, I’ve already begun writing my next fic! But I’m going to be taking a little break, because since I’ve started high school, my writing motivation has gone down, and so has my free time since I’ve been doing work for theater.
> 
>  
> 
> But I’ve already got the basic plot of my next story all written out, and so far it’s happier! Not as much angst, which is good… since I definitely need a break from angst. So yeah, I’ve already started writing the next fic, and it should be up mid to late October!
> 
> And a little teaser for those who have made it this far and actually care enough to read this: it’s minecraft au, and surprise surprise, Gavin’s pretty important to the story line.
> 
> But I love all of you so much, you have all made my life so much better, and I hope you stick around for more projects.
> 
> -Bailey/GeoffsEightGreatestMistakes <3<3
> 
>  
> 
> (PS- There’s NOT going to be a sequel to this fic, but there’s a chance I may post little drabbles about stuff I wanted to put in but it didn’t easily fit in to the plot line.)


End file.
